Stabilisation Bias in Monetary Policy Under Endogenous Price Stickiness
Bank of Finland Working Paper No. 4/2001
23 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2002
Date Written: March 13, 2001
Abstract
This paper investigates the consequences of introducing endogenous price stickiness into a standard monetary policy model. We find that the modification reduces the optimal degree of inflation stabilization to which the central bank should commit. The reason is that less inflation stabilization encourages firms to review their prices more frequently. The economy becomes more flexible and the Phillips-curve tradeoff is improved, making it easier for the central bank to control inflation. This reduces, and may even reverse, the stabilization bias that is present in models with exogenous price stickiness and that recommends that the central bank generally commit to tighter stabilization of inflation than it would in a discretionary policy regime.
Keywords: price stickiness, monetary policy, stabilization bias
JEL Classification: E52, E58
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation