Inflation Targeting(IT)is nowadays the basis of the monetary policy framework in most of the advanced and the emerging economies of the world.For many years the inflation target was conceived as the upper bound of per...Inflation Targeting(IT)is nowadays the basis of the monetary policy framework in most of the advanced and the emerging economies of the world.For many years the inflation target was conceived as the upper bound of permissible inflation rates and Central Banks tried to prevent them to trespass the bound.But after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 the world monetary scenery changed deeply:nominal interest rates dropped down near to zero,inflation rates began to run well below the targets and the task of Central Banks became to raise them towards the target.A new instrument of policy was employed by Central Banks in order to try to raise inflation rates,namely Quantitative Easing(QE)operations,consisting in massive outright purchases of various kinds of financial assets(mainly national governments bonds)to be held and rolled over at maturity,so producing a structural enlargement of liquidity and expansionary effects throughout the economies.In the Euro Area since 2015 onwards the European Central Bank(ECB),which defined the inflation target as an year—on year increase in the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices(HICP)of below but close to 2%,launched various Asset Purchasing Programmes(APPs)in order to increase liquidity and raise too low inflation rates;in year 2020 in order to face the heavy economic effects of Covid-19 Pandemic a new great App of 750 billion euro was launched.But QE operations are clumsy and roundabout ways to raise inflation rates because they must first pass through the financial sectors which may be destabilized by the excess of liquidity:anomalous rises in asset prices,debts,financial leverages and derivatives threaten the economic equilibrium and solvency of banks and other financial institutions.Moreover,in the medium and long run,the availability of credit at too low interest rates favours the survival of unprofitable,noncompetitive and even obsolete business enterprises,hindering the birth and growth of new more productive and innovative enterprises.展开更多
文摘Inflation Targeting(IT)is nowadays the basis of the monetary policy framework in most of the advanced and the emerging economies of the world.For many years the inflation target was conceived as the upper bound of permissible inflation rates and Central Banks tried to prevent them to trespass the bound.But after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 the world monetary scenery changed deeply:nominal interest rates dropped down near to zero,inflation rates began to run well below the targets and the task of Central Banks became to raise them towards the target.A new instrument of policy was employed by Central Banks in order to try to raise inflation rates,namely Quantitative Easing(QE)operations,consisting in massive outright purchases of various kinds of financial assets(mainly national governments bonds)to be held and rolled over at maturity,so producing a structural enlargement of liquidity and expansionary effects throughout the economies.In the Euro Area since 2015 onwards the European Central Bank(ECB),which defined the inflation target as an year—on year increase in the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices(HICP)of below but close to 2%,launched various Asset Purchasing Programmes(APPs)in order to increase liquidity and raise too low inflation rates;in year 2020 in order to face the heavy economic effects of Covid-19 Pandemic a new great App of 750 billion euro was launched.But QE operations are clumsy and roundabout ways to raise inflation rates because they must first pass through the financial sectors which may be destabilized by the excess of liquidity:anomalous rises in asset prices,debts,financial leverages and derivatives threaten the economic equilibrium and solvency of banks and other financial institutions.Moreover,in the medium and long run,the availability of credit at too low interest rates favours the survival of unprofitable,noncompetitive and even obsolete business enterprises,hindering the birth and growth of new more productive and innovative enterprises.
