What Measure of Inflation Should a Developing Country Central Bank Target?

Rahul Anand, Eswar Prasad and Boyang Zhang (bz95@cornell.edu)

No 21388, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In closed or open economy models with complete markets, targeting core inflation enables monetary policy to maximize welfare by replicating the flexible price equilibrium. We analyze this result in the context of developing economies, where a large proportion of households are credit constrained and the share of food expenditures in total consumption expenditures is high. We develop an open economy model with incomplete financial markets to show that headline inflation targeting improves welfare outcomes. We also compute the optimal price index, which includes a positive weight on food prices but, unlike headline inflation, assigns zero weight to import prices.

JEL-codes: E31 E52 E61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-mac and nep-mon
Note: IFM
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (46)

Published as Anand, Rahul & Prasad, Eswar S. & Zhang, Boyang, 2015. "What measure of inflation should a developing country central bank target?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 102-116.

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Journal Article: What measure of inflation should a developing country central bank target? (2015)
Working Paper: What Measure of Inflation Should a Developing Country Central Bank Target? (2015)
Working Paper: What Measure of Inflation Should a Developing Country Central Bank Target? (2015)
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