Inflation-Growth Profiles Across Countries: Evidence from Developing and Developed Countries

There is growing evidence from multi-country studies indicating that there is a turning point in the relationship between inflation and economic growth beyond which the detrimental effects of high inflation offset the stimulating effects of mild inflation on growth. However, it is not clear whether it is appropriate to assume an identical turning point in the inflation and growth relation across countries at various stages of development. Using a non-linear specification and the data from four groups of countries at various stages of development, this paper examines the possibility for a family rather than a single inverted U relation across countries at various stages of development. The estimated turning points are found to vary widely from as high as 15% per year for the lower-middle-income countries to 11% for the low-income countries, and 5% for the upper-middle-income countries. No statistically detectable, long-run relationship between inflation and growth is evident for the OECD countries. The results indicate the potential bias in the estimation of inflation-growth nexus that may result from combining various countries at different levels of development. The existence of such a degree of heterogeneity across countries at various stages of development also suggests the inappropriateness of setting a single, uniform numerical policy target applicable to all (developing) countries.