Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Proving that Bank of Israel is Using an Inflation Target

Eric, one of the more rabid market monetarist commenters at Yglesias' place, is still insisting that I prove that Bank of Israel is not using NGDP targeting.  So, here goes.

1.  Bank of Israel's published policy is a 1-3% inflation target.
2.  Bank of Israel publishes a report every quarter explaining how it arrived at its policy by targeting 1-3% inflation.
3.  Bank of Israel's policy changes are consistent with a 1-3% inflation target (their stated policy) and inconsistent with an NGDP target (their alleged secret policy that a prep student invented by writing a blog post.)  We know this because in late 2009 Bank of Israel tightened rates to curb inflation  despite the fact that NGDP growth was below the alleged target rate of 6.5%.

I really, really hope that does it.  But somehow I think that it won't.

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