We test the menu cost model of Ball and Mankiw (1994, 1995), which impliesthat the impact of price dispersion on inflation should differ between inflation anddeflation episodes, using data for Japan and Hong Kong. We use a random crosssectionsample split when calculating the moments of the...

Significant attention is paid by policymakers in the UnitedKingdom to the relationship between house prices, thebusiness cycle, and inflation, on account of the pronouncedprocyclical pattern of house prices. Are house prices asymptom of macroeconomic conditions? Or are thereimportant feedback...

[...]This article provides a systematic evaluation of severalproposed measures of U.S. core inflation: the popular ex foodand energy series, an ex energy series, a weighted median series,and an exponentially smoothed series. To inform the currentdebate on this issue, we adopt a general framework...

[...]In this article, we model the relationship between goodsinflation and services inflation from 1967:2 to 2002:4. To helpinform the inflation debate, we then use our results to forecastinflation for 2003. The specific inflation series that we model isthe quarterly change (at an annual rate)...

[...]Inflation targeting in New Zealand followed legislationthat mandated a Policy Targets Agreement (PTA)between the elected government and the newlyindependent central bank, which resulted in a jointlydecided numerical target for inflation.[...]

Interest in commodity prices as indicators of consumerprice inflation has ebbed and flowed withthe rise and fall in commodity prices themselves.True to form, as commodity prices have surged inthe last two years (Chart 1), interest in their predictivepower has returned. Inflation hawks point to...

This study analyzes a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model with nominal rigidities,monopolistic competition and producer currency pricing. A quadratic approximation to the utility ofthe consumers is derived and assumed as the policy objective function of the policymakers.It is shown...

We verify whether cocoa prices could be a source of inflation in five countries of the West African region within a framework that includes other variables such as migrant remittances to the region and a fiscal policy variable represented by the government budget deficit. Unlike earlier studies...

We analyse the adjustment of retail and services prices in a period of low inflation, using a set of individual price data from the German Consumer Price Index which covers the years 1998 to 2003. We strong find evidence of time- and state-dependent price adjustment. Most importantly, the...

Changing product quality, rapid technological progress, and short product life cycles make it difficult to compute indices that correctly reflect the true price movements of IT products. This paper assesses the differences between traditional and quality adjusted indices by providing results for...