Estimating the effect of central bank independence on inflation using longitudinal targeted maximum likelihood estimation

Baumann Philipp F. M. (), Schomaker Michael () and Enzo Rossi
Additional contact information
Baumann Philipp F. M.: KOF Swiss Economic Institute, Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Schomaker Michael: Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria

Journal of Causal Inference, 2021, vol. 9, issue 1, 109-146

Abstract: The notion that an independent central bank reduces a country’s inflation is a controversial hypothesis. To date, it has not been possible to satisfactorily answer this question because the complex macroeconomic structure that gives rise to the data has not been adequately incorporated into statistical analyses. We develop a causal model that summarizes the economic process of inflation. Based on this causal model and recent data, we discuss and identify the assumptions under which the effect of central bank independence on inflation can be identified and estimated. Given these and alternative assumptions, we estimate this effect using modern doubly robust effect estimators, i.e., longitudinal targeted maximum likelihood estimators. The estimation procedure incorporates machine learning algorithms and is tailored to address the challenges associated with complex longitudinal macroeconomic data. We do not find strong support for the hypothesis that having an independent central bank for a long period of time necessarily lowers inflation. Simulation studies evaluate the sensitivity of the proposed methods in complex settings when certain assumptions are violated and highlight the importance of working with appropriate learning algorithms for estimation.

Keywords: causal inference; doubly robust; super learning; macroeconomics; monetary policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/jci-2020-0016 (text/html)

Related works:
Chapter: Estimating the effect of central bank independence on inflation using longitudinal targeted maximum likelihood estimation (2022)
Working Paper: Estimating the Effect of Central Bank Independence on Inflation Using Longitudinal Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:causin:v:9:y:2021:i:1:p:109-146:n:6

DOI: 10.1515/jci-2020-0016

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Causal Inference is currently edited by Elias Bareinboim, Jin Tian and Iván Díaz

More articles in Journal of Causal Inference from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().