High-Level Seminar: Implementing Inflation Targets Sponsored by the IMF Institute IMF Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Multipurpose Room, B-702

 

March 20-21, 2000

Participation by invitation only

Following the widespread high-inflation years of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the world entered a period of relative price stability. This general trend toward lower inflation is partly a consequence of the adoption of inflation targets by a number of central banks, first in industrial countries and more recently in developing countries. This conference addresses some of the issues arising from the change in monetary policy objectives. It examines the type of reforms countries need before establishing an inflation targeting framework; the appropriate monetary policy under monetary and inflation targeting; the specific experiences of Canada, Israel, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with inflation targeting; and the experiences of Mexico and Brazil in their current transition to an inflation-targeting framework.

The agenda for the conference appears below, along with links to the papers delivered at the conference and relevant background documents.Conference papers and brief biographical information on each participant will be posted as they become available. Please note that the conference papers are in draft and unedited.

Also available on the website is a book entitled Inflation Targeting in Practice: Strategic and Operational Issues andApplication to Emerging Market Economies, edited by Mario I. Blejer, Alain Ize, Alfredo Leone, and Sérgio Werlang.

Monday, March 20

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9:00 a.m.-9:15 a.m.	Welcoming Remarks--Mohsin S. Khan (IMF)
9:15 a.m.-9:45 a.m.	Opening Remarks--Stanley Fischer (IMF)
10:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m.	Chair: Michael Mussa Monetary Rules (180 k pdf file) Background Paper: Theoretical Analysis Regarding a Zero Lower Bound on Nominal Interest Rates (180 k pdf file) Speaker: Bennett McCallum    (Carnegie-Mellon University) Discussant: Vincent Reinhart    (Federal Reserve Board)
11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m.	Monetary Policy Under Inflation Targeting Speaker: Lars Svensson    (Stockholm University) Discussant: Timothy Lane (IMF)
2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.	Chair: Tomás Baliño (IMF) Inflation Targeting in Canada Speaker: Charles Freedman    (Bank of Canada)
3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.	Inflation Targeting in NewZealand Speaker: David Archer    (Reserve Bank of New Zealand)
4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.	Chair: Mohsin Khan (IMF) Inflation Targeting in the United Kingdom (71 k pdf file) Background Paper: Targeting Inflation: The UK in Retrospect (46 k pdf file) Speaker: Andrew Haldane    (Bank of England)
Tuesday, March 21
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.	Chair: Peter Montiel (IMF) Inflation Targeting in Israel (422 k pdf file) Background Paper: Inflation Targeting Under a Crawling Band Exchange Rate Regime: Lessons from Israel Speaker: Leonardo Leiderman    (Bank of Israel and Tel Aviv University)
10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m.	Chair: Claudio Loser (IMF) Inflation Targeting in Mexico Background Paper: Mexico's Monetary Policy Framework Under a Floating Exchange Rate Regime (422 k pdf file) Speakers: Agustin Carstens (IMF) Alejandro Werner (Bank of Mexico)
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.	Inflation Targeting in Brazil (433 k pdf file) Background Paper: Issues in the Adoption of an Inflation Targeting Framework in Brazil Speaker: Sérgio Werlang    (Central Bank of Brazil)
12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m.	Chair: Mohsin Khan (IMF) Conclusions on Inflation Targeting Speaker: Leonardo Leiderman    (Bank of Israel and Tel Aviv University)
12:45 p.m.-1:00 p.m.	Closing Remarks Presentation by Eduardo Aninat (IMF)