Inflation Dynamics In Latin America

This article studies the mean and the persistence of inflation in the 10 largest Latin American countries for the period 1980–2007. We find multiple shifts in the mean, with inflation in the region increasing throughout the eighties and decreasing in the nineties, thus documenting that the rise and fall of inflation in Latin America occurred a decade later than in industrial countries. Regarding the persistence, we find that it is high but that it decreases when the shifts in the mean are taken into account, as in developed countries, while it appears to have decreased recently in more than half of the countries in our sample. Finally, we find that only about a third of the total variation of inflation in Latin America can be explained by a common factor and, therefore, that most of the variation in the region has been related to idiosyncratic factors. We discuss the relation of our findings with economic policies implemented in the region. (JEL E31, E42, C22)