ECON 3P04: Money and Banking II Review Questions: Set 3 Solutions
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ECON 3P04: Money and Banking II
Review Questions: Set 3 (Tools of Monetary Policy)
1. What are the benefits of using a nominal anchorfor the conduct of monetary policy?
A nominal anchor helps promote price stability by tying inflation expectations to low levels directly through its constraint on the value ofmoney. It can also limit the time-inconsistency problem by providing an expected constraint on monetary policy.
2. What incentives arisefor a central bank tofall into the time-inconsistency trap ofpursuing overly expansionary monetary policy?
Central bankers might think they can boost output or lower unemployment by pursuing overly expansionary monetary policy even though in the long run this just leads to higher inflation with no gains to increasing output or lowering unemployment. Alternatively, politicians may pressure the central bank to pursue overly expansionary policies.
3. Why would it be problematicfor a central bank to have a primary goal of maximizing economic growth?
This could pose a problem for a couple reasons. First of all, monetary policy has limited ability to encourage long-run economic growth other than through its ability to maintain low, stable, long-run inflation and interest rates. Moreover, a strictly interpreted focus on economic growth may result in an unhealthy focus on keeping short-term interest rates low for a prolonged period oftime to raise investment and consumption in the near term. This could lead to imbalances in the economy that, if not properly addressed, could lead to bubbles and financial crises.
4. “Sincefinancial crises can impart severe damage to the economy, a central bank’s primary goal should be to ensure stability infinancial markets.” Is this statement true,false, or uncertain? Explain.
Uncertain. Most economists probably would not dispute that trying to maintain stability in financial markets is important to the economy. However, having a constant and prioritized focus on financial market stability in order to prevent crises in most cases is probably unnecessary since financial crises are generally pretty rare. In addition, constantly focusing on maintaining stability in financial markets could come at the expense of ignoring more important factors that can be far more costly to the economy on a day-to-day basis, such as stabilizing output, unemployment, or other related short-term movements in the business cycle.
5. “A central bank with a dual mandate will achieve lower unemployment in the long run than a central bank with a hierarchical mandate in which price stability takes precedence.” Is this statement true,false, or uncertain? Explain.
False. There is no long-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment, so in the long run a central bank with a dual mandate that attempts to promote maximum employment by pursuing inflationary policies would have no more success at reducing unemployment than one whose primary goal is price stability.
6. Why is a public announcement of numerical inflation rate objectives important to the success of an inflation-targeting central bank?
The success of inflation targeting relies on its ability to credibly anchor inflation expectations at a low, desirable level. Without formal public announcements and reminders about the numerical inflation target, markets and the public may have less faith that policymakers are committed to maintaining the inflation target. And if a formal inflation target is not announced at all, market participants and the public may not know the exact target and be forced to infer or estimate the target, creating uncertainty that can raise inflation expectations and unanchor inflation expectations from a low, desirable level.
7. How does inflation targeting help reduce the time-inconsistency problem of discretionary policy?
Inflation targeting increases the accountability of monetary policymakers and is a mechanism of self-discipline that effectively ties the hands of policymakers to commit to a policy path. Because of the transparency of an inflation-targeting framework, it is very easy to verify whether policymakers are faithful to a committed policy path. As a result, there is much less ability and incentive for policymakers to deviate to a discretionary policy that could increase output or raise the inflation rate, therefore mitigating the time-inconsistency problem.
8. What methods have inflation-targeting central banks used to increase communication with the public and to increase the transparency of monetary policymaking?
Inflation-targeting central banks engage in extensive public information campaigns that include the distribution of glossy brochures, the publication of Inflation Report–type documents, making speeches to the public, and continual communication with the elected government.
9. Why might inflation targeting increase supportfor the independence of the central bank in conducting monetary policy?
Sustained success in the conduct of monetary policy as measured against a pre-announced and well-defined inflation target can be instrumental in building public support for a central bank’s independence and for its policies. Also, inflation targeting is consistent with democratic principles because the central bank is more accountable.
10. “Because inflation targetingfocuses on achieving the inflation target, it will lead to excessive outputfluctuations.” Is this statement true,false, or uncertain? Explain.
False. Inflation targeting does not imply a sole focus on inflation. In practice, inflation targeters do worry about output fluctuations, and inflation targeting may even be able to reduce output fluctuations because it allows monetary policymakers to respond more aggressively to declines in demand because they don’t have to worry that the resulting expansionary monetary policy will lead to a sharp rise in inflation expectations.
2022-02-16