Monetary Policy Strategy

This book by a leading authority on monetary policy offers a unique view of the subject from the perspectives of both scholar and practitioner. Frederic Mishkin is not only an academic expert in the field but also a high-level policymaker. He is especially well positioned to discuss the changes in the conduct of monetary policy in recent years, in particular the turn to inflation targeting. Monetary Policy Strategy describes his work over the last ten years, offering published papers, new introductory material, and a summing up, "Everything You Wanted to Know about Monetary Policy Strategy, But Were Afraid to Ask," which reflects on what we have learned about monetary policy over the last thirty years. Mishkin blends theory, econometric evidence, and extensive case studies of monetary policy in advanced and emerging market and transition economies. Throughout, his focus is on these key areas: the importance of price stability and a nominal anchor; fiscal and financial preconditions for achieving price stability; central bank independence as an additional precondition; central bank accountability; the rationale for inflation targeting; the optimal inflation target; central bank transparency and communication; and the role of asset prices in monetary policy.Frederic S. Mishkin is Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a past Executive Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and after finishing this book was appointed a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He is the author of The Next Great Globalization: How Disadvantaged Nations Can Harness Their Financial Systems to Get Rich and other books.