Volume 1, Issue 3 December 2005

Inflation Targeting and Inflation Behavior: A Successful Story?

Abstract

This paper estimates the effects of inflation targeting (IT) adoption over inflation dynamics using a wide control group. We contribute to the current IT evaluation literature by considering the adoption of IT by a country as a treatment, just as in the program evaluation literature. Hence, we perform propensity score matching to find suitable counterfactuals to the actual inflation targeters. We find out that IT has helped in reducing the level and volatility of inflation in the countries that adopted it. This result is robust to alternative definitions of treatment and control groups.

Authors

  • Marco Vega
  • Diego Winkelried

JEL codes

  • C50
  • E42
  • E52

Other papers in this issue

Lars E.O. Svensson and Robert J. Tetlow

David Gruen and Michael Plumb and Andrew Stone

Neville R Francis and Michael T Owyang and Athena T Theodorou

Nigel F B Allington and Paul A Kattuman and Florian A Waldmann

Lars E O Svensson and Robert J Tetlow

David Gruen and Michael Plumb and Andrew Stone

Neville R. Francis and Michael T. Owyang and Athena T. Theodorou

Nigel F.B. Allington and Paul A. Kattuman and Florian A. Waldmann