Skip to main content
Log in

Central Bank Independence and Sacrifice Ratios: Some Further Considerations

  • Published:
Open Economies Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The existing literature reports a positive relationship between sacrifice ratios and central bank independence. This paper discusses two critical points related to the usual procedures employed by this literature. One concerns the issue of non-stationarity of the inflation rate, the other the problem of correlation between the error terms for different disinflation episodes in the same country. The way in which the sacrifice ratio-central bank independence relationship is tested is reconsidered taking into account these points. Our results shed considerable doubts on the nature and robustness of such a relationship and on the usual interpretation given to it in the literature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alesina, Alberto and Lawrence H. Summers (1993) “Central Bank Independence and Macroeconomic Performance: Some Comparative Evidence.” Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 25(2):151-162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bade, Robin and Michael Parkin (1988) “Central Bank Laws and Monetary Policy.” University of Western Ontario, Mimeograph.

  • Ball, Laurence (1994) “What Determines the Sacrifice Ratio?” In N. Gregory Mankiw (ed.) Monetary Policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, Laurence, N. Gregory Mankiw and David Romer (1988) “The New Keynesian Economics and the Output-Inflation Trade-off.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1:1-65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cecchetti, St. G. (1994) “Comment.” In N. Gregory Mankiw (ed.) Monetary Policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christiano, Lawrence and Martin Eichenbaum (1990) “Unit Root in Real GNP: Do We Know, and Do We Care?” Carnegie Rochester Conference Series 32:7-62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cukierman, Alex (1992) Central Bank Strategy, Credibility and Independence: Theory and Evidence. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Debelle, Guy and Stanley Fischer (1994) “How Independent Should a Central Bank Be?” In Jeffrey C. Fuhrer (ed.) Goals, Guidelines, and Constraints Facing Monetary Policymaker. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

  • Fischer, Andreas M. (1996) “Central Bank Independence and Sacrifice Ratios.” Open Economies Review 7(1):5-18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fratianni, Michele and Haizhou Huang (1992) “Central Bank Independence and Optimal Conservativeness.” Working Papers in Economics No. 92-032, Indiana University Graduate School of Business.

  • Gaertner, Manfred (1997) “Central Bank Independence and the Sacrifice Ratio: The Dark Side of the Force.” Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics 133(3):513-538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grilli, Vittorio, Donato Masciandaro, and Guido Tabellini (1991) “Political and Monetary Institutions and Public Financial Policies in the Industrial Countries.” Economic Policy 6(13):341-392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, Thomas J. (1997) “Disinflation Costs, Accelerating Inflation Gains, and Central Bank Independence.” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv/Review of World Economics 133(1):1-19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, Robert E. (1973) “Some International Evidence on Output-Inflation Trade-Offs.” American Economic Review 63:326-334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perron, Pierre (1997) “Further Evidence on a Breaking Trend Functions in Macroeconomic Variables.” Journal of Econometrics 80:355-385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, Carl E. (1994) “Central Bank Independence and the Short-Run Output-Inflation Trade-Off in the EC.” Working Paper 1.35, Center for German and European Studies, University of California at Berkeley.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baltensperger, E., Kugler, P. Central Bank Independence and Sacrifice Ratios: Some Further Considerations. Open Economies Review 11, 111–125 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008309303922

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008309303922

Navigation