IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v15y1997i1p50-64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Benefit‐Cost Analysis Of Disinflation

Author

Listed:
  • CHRISTOPHER J. NEELY
  • CHRISTOPHER J. WALLER

Abstract

This paper contains a benefit‐cost analysis of disinflation. The analysis measures the costs of disinflation by “sacrifice ratios”—the output lost during a disinflation‐induced recession. The benefits of disinflation are from recent research that associates lower inflation with higher GDP growth rates. The analysis calculates sacrifice ratios and the growth effects of disinflation and critiques the methods that economists typically use to calculate these benefits and costs. The estimates are quite fragile but nevertheless show that the lost output from a disinflation‐induced recession typically will be recouped in 10 to 15 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Neely & Christopher J. Waller, 1997. "A Benefit‐Cost Analysis Of Disinflation," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 50-64, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:15:y:1997:i:1:p:50-64
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1997.tb00454.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1997.tb00454.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1997.tb00454.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laurence Ball, 1994. "What Determines the Sacrifice Ratio?," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, pages 155-193, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Faust, Jon & Leeper, Eric M, 1997. "When Do Long-Run Identifying Restrictions Give Reliable Results?," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 15(3), pages 345-353, July.
    3. Tor Einarsson & Milton H. Marquis, 1994. "Optimal disinflation paths when growth is endogenous," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 94-32, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    5. Quah, Danny & Vahey, Shaun P, 1995. "Measuring Core Inflation?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(432), pages 1130-1144, September.
    6. Andreas Fischer, 1996. "Central bank independence and sacrifice ratios," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 5-18, January.
    7. David Mayes & Bryan Chapple, 1995. "The costs and benefits of disinflation: a critique of the sacrifice ration," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, vol. 58, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brian O'Reilly, 1998. "The Benefits of Low Inflation: Taking Shock "A nickel ain't worth a dime any more" [Yogi Berra]," Technical Reports 83, Bank of Canada.
    2. António Duarte, 2009. "The Portuguese Disinflation Process: Analysis of Some Costs and Benefits," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 16(1), pages 157-173, May.
    3. Michael R. Pakko, 1998. "Shoe-leather costs of inflation and policy credibility," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Nov, pages 37-50.
    4. Jean-Jacques Durand & Marilyne Huchet-Bourdon & Julien Licheron, 2008. "Sacrifice ratio dispersion within the Euro Zone: what can be learned about implementing a single monetary policy?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 601-621.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hutchison, M M & Walsh, C E, 1998. "The Output-Inflation Tradeoff and Central Bank Reform: Evidence from New Zealand," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(448), pages 703-725, May.
    2. Willem Thorbecke, 2002. "A Dual Mandate for the Federal Reserve: The Pursuit of Price Stability and Full Employment," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 255-268, Spring.
    3. Daniel L. Thornton, 1996. "The costs and benefits of price stability: an assessment of Howitt's rule," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 78(Mar), pages 23-38.
    4. Mazumder, Sandeep, 2014. "Determinants of the sacrifice ratio: Evidence from OECD and non-OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 117-135.
    5. Christopher Ragan, 1998. "On the Believable Benefits of Low Inflation," Staff Working Papers 98-15, Bank of Canada.
    6. Mr. Bernard J Laurens & Mr. Marco Arnone & Jean-François Segalotto, 2006. "The Measurement of Central Bank Autonomy: Survey of Models, Indicators, and Empirical Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2006/227, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Prakash Kumar Shrestha, 2006. "Some Measures of Core Inflation and Their Evaluations in Nepal," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Research Department, vol. 18, pages 37-69, April.
    8. Giuseppe DIANA, 2000. "Wage Indexation, Central Bank Independence and the Cost of Disinflation," Working Papers of BETA 2000-03, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. Mio, Hitoshi, 2002. "Identifying Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Components of Inflation Rate: A Structural Vector Autoregression Analysis for Japan," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 20(1), pages 33-56, January.
    10. David G. Mayes & Matti Virén, 2004. "Asymmetries in the Euro area economy," Macroeconomics 0404024, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Hasan Bakhshi & Andrew Haldane & Neal Hatch, 1999. "Some Costs and Benefits of Price Stability in the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability, pages 133-198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Andrew G Haldane, 1997. "Designing Inflation Targets," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Philip Lowe (ed.),Monetary Policy and Inflation Targeting, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    13. Frederic S. Mishkin & Adam S. Posen, 1997. "Inflation targeting: lessons from four countries," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 3(Aug), pages 9-110.
    14. Mayes, David G. & Vilmunen, Jouko, 1999. "Unemployment in a small open economy: Finland and New Zealand," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 10/1999, Bank of Finland.
    15. Karl-Heinz Todter & Gerhard Ziebarth, 1999. "Price Stability versus Low Inflation in Germany: An Analysis of Costs and Benefits," NBER Chapters, in: The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability, pages 47-94, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Giovanni Di Bartolomeo & Patrizio Tirelli & Nicola Acocella, 2013. "Trend inflation as a workers’ discipline device," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 215-235, May.
    17. Martin S. Feldstein, 1997. "The Costs and Benefits of Going from Low Inflation to Price Stability," NBER Chapters, in: Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy, pages 123-166, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Oscar Díaz Q. & Marco Laguna V., 2007. "Factores que explican la reducción de las tasas pasivas de interés en el sistema bancario boliviano," Monetaria, CEMLA, vol. 0(4), pages 331-366, octubre-d.
    19. Mayes, David G. & Vilmunen, Jouko, 1999. "Unemployment in a small open economy : Finland and New Zealand," Research Discussion Papers 10/1999, Bank of Finland.
    20. Danilo José Rodrigues Passos & Pedro Garcia Duarte, 2014. "Reavaliando A Relação Entre Independência Do Banco Central E Custos De Desinflação: Uma Análise De Viés De Seleção," Anais do XLI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 41st Brazilian Economics Meeting] 040, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:15:y:1997:i:1:p:50-64. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.