What does the heterogeneity of the inflation expectations of Italian firms tell us?

Laura Bartiloro (), Marco Bottone () and Alfonso Rosolia
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Marco Bottone: Bank of Italy

No 414, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: Quite a lot. We investigate how the cross-sectional heterogeneity of firms� inflation expectations reflects information availability and awareness of recent macroeconomic developments, observable firm characteristics and broader macroeconomic developments using the Bank of Italy�s survey on businesses� inflation and growth expectations. We find that: on average about half of the dispersion of expectations is traceable to a lack of information about the most recent price developments; firms incorporate new information into their expectations within a quarter; the dispersion of expectations is related in a statistically significant way to some important aggregate economic variables, and it is greater when current inflation is farther away from the ECB�s price stability goal. Since 2015 the weight attributed to prior beliefs of low inflation has steadily increased and the uncertainty surrounding them has decreased. Furthermore, since 2014 there has no longer been an empirical connection between the dispersion of expectations and the distance from the ECB price stability. These two facts suggest an increased risk of inflation expectations being de-anchored."

Keywords: Inflation Expectations; Learning; Firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D8 E31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eec, nep-mac and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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