Category: Economics: Ch 19

Inflationary expectations can be an important determinant of the actual level of inflation and so the Bank of England monitor people’s perceptions of inflation closely. Expectations of inflation are currently at their highest level in eight years.

Questions

1. Explain the transmission mechanism by which higher inflationary expectations are translated into inflation.
2. What are the key determinants of inflationary expectations?
3. Discuss strategies that (a) the Bank of England and (b) the government can adopt to reduce inflationary expectations.

In the early days of monetary policy, money supply targeting was a core element of anti-inflation policy. This approach was slowly dropped during the 1990s, but the underlying growth of the money supply has remained an important issue for policy makers and recent growth in the money supply has led to concern from some commentators that higher inflationary pressures may yet emerge.

King sees money growth as danger sign Times Online (3/5/07)
Bank’s inflation controllers leave the NICE decade to enter the not-so-nice Guardian (3/5/07)
Should letter-writing be a thing of the past? Times Online (30/4/07)


Questions
1. Explain the relationship between money supply growth and inflation.
2. What were the main factors that led to money supply targeting being dropped as a core element of monetary policy?
3. Assess the extent to which the MPC should pay more attention to the level of money supply growth.
4. Should letter-writing be a thing of the past?