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How Tolerant Should Inflation-Targeting Central Banks Be? Selecting the Proper Tolerance Band - Lessons from Sweden

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Should an inflation-targeting central bank have an explicit tolerance band around its inflation target? This paper provides an answer derived from the Swedish experience. The Riksbank is exceptional in the sense that it first adopted and later abolished an explicit band and is currently considering bringing it back. We conclude that the band should be explicit for several reasons. Most important, an inflation-targeting central bank should be open and transparent to the public regarding its actual ability to control inflation. We discuss how a numerical measure of the proper width of the band can be constructed to foster communication and credibility.

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  • Andersson, Fredrik N. G. & Jonung, Lars, 2017. "How Tolerant Should Inflation-Targeting Central Banks Be? Selecting the Proper Tolerance Band - Lessons from Sweden," Working Papers 2017:2, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2017_002
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    1. Orphanides, Athanasios & Wieland, Volker, 2000. "Inflation zone targeting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1351-1387, June.
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    3. Lars E. O. Svensson, 2015. "The Possible Unemployment Cost of Average Inflation below a Credible Target," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 258-296, January.
    4. Cobham,David & Eitrheim,Øyvind & Gerlach,Stefan & Qvigstad,Jan F. (ed.), 2010. "Twenty Years of Inflation Targeting," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521768184, September.
    5. Demertzis Maria & Viegi Nicola, 2009. "Inflation Targeting: A Framework for Communication," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, December.
    6. Walsh, Carl E, 1995. "Is New Zealand's Reserve Bank Act of 1989 an Optimal Central Bank Contract?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1179-1191, November.
    7. Jonung, Lars & Fregert, Klas, 2008. "Inflation Targeting Is a Success, So Far: 100 Years of Evidence from Swedish Wage Contracts," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-25.
    8. Berg, Claes & Jonung, Lars, 1999. "Pioneering price level targeting: The Swedish experience 1931-1937," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 525-551, June.
    9. Gill Hammond, 2012. "State of the art of inflation targeting," Handbooks, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England, edition 4, number 29, April.
    10. Edwin M. Truman, 2003. "Inflation Targeting in the World Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 346, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ehrmann, Michael, 2021. "Point targets, tolerance bands or target ranges? Inflation target types and the anchoring of inflation expectations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Fredrik N. G. Andersson & Yushu Li, 2020. "Are Central Bankers Inflation Nutters? An MCMC Estimator of the Long-Memory Parameter in a State Space Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 529-549, February.
    3. Andersson, Fredrik N. G. & Jonung, Lars, 2019. "The Tyranny of the Tenths. The Rise and Gradual Fall of Forward Guidance in Sweden 2007-2018," Working Papers 2019:14, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    4. Robert Amano & Thomas J. Carter & Lawrence L. Schembri, 2020. "Strengthening Inflation Targeting: Review and Renewal Processes in Canada and Other Advanced Jurisdictions," Discussion Papers 2020-7, Bank of Canada.
    5. Große Steffen, Christoph, 2021. "Anchoring of long-term inflation expectations: Do inflation target formulations matter?," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242466, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inflation targeting; tolerance band; tolerance interval; monetary policy; the Riksbank; Sweden;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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