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John Quiggin's avatar

I argued 25 years ago for real interest rate targeting, with fiscal policy taking on the job of macro stabilisation. It wasn't super-relevant in the following decade of low and stable inflation, and I haven't reconsidered the issue properly

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Thomas L. Hutcheson's avatar

Real would be better than nominal, but I can't see why any relative price would be a good target. I think the target should be about something that is intrinsically good, like inflation or NGDP that maximizes income.

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John Quiggin's avatar

Price stability is generally good, so policies that involve arbitrary shifts in relative prices are not.

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