Inflation Targeting, Price-Level Targeting, the Zero Lower Bound, and Indeterminacy

We compare inflation targeting and price-level targeting in the canonical New Keynesian model, with particular attention to multiple steady-states, indeterminacy, and global stability. Under price-level targeting we show the following: 1) the well-known problem of multiple steady-state equilibria under inflation targeting is absent; 2) the model’s dynamics close to the steady state are determinate for a much wider range of parameter values; 3) the model is globally saddlepoint stable. These results provide additional arguments in favour of price-level targeting as a monetary policy framework.