A framework for the ex ante analysis of monetary reforms

Proposals for monetary reform based on inflation targeting, in Iraq and elsewhere, face a variety of practical and theoretical difficulties. In evaluating attempted reforms based on inflation targeting, we suggest some propositions broadly consistent with the new institutionalist critique. In particular, we stress the importance of recognizing path-dependent features of the economic system. An awareness of the reduced generality of theoretical results in light of institutional limitations, combined with an impossibility criterion for economic policy technologies, holds promise for designing a set of readily attainable reforms. We argue that these criteria, far from being esoteric, actually interact in a way that underpins foundational results in monetary theory due to James E. Meade and Robert A. Mundell.