Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/121011 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
FIW Working Paper No. 10
Publisher: 
FIW - Research Centre International Economics, Vienna
Abstract: 
This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the relation between inflation and globalization, measured in terms of trade and financial openness. Using a large crosssection of 91 countries covering the period 1985-2004, we establish two main empirical regularities. Both higher trade and financial openness i) reduce central bank?s inflation bias,yielding lower average inflation, and ii) are associated with a larger output-inflation tradeoff. This evidence is at odds with the standard Barro-Gordon framework, which would require globalization to have a negative effect on the output-inflation tradeoff to yield lower equilibrium inflation, but it is consistent with a recent strand of new Keynesian models emphasizing the role of imperfect competition and wage rigidities. Moreover, our findings do not hold up for the OECD subsample, which suggests that a group of highly developed countries has been successful in creating an institutional framework for central banks that eliminates distortions due to the time inconsistency problem.
Subjects: 
Globalization
Trade
Financial Openness
Inflation
Output Inflation Tradeoff
JEL: 
E58
F41
F10
F30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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