There is considerable evidence from industrial countries that the output gap is an important determinant of inflation. We examine whether the gap model also works in developing, newly industrializing, and industrial Asian economies. Our output gaps are based on a new nonparametric estimation procedure for trend output that does not require an arbitrary specification of the degree to which the data are smoothed. We test simple versions of the gap model in which the change in inflation is related to the output gap, as well as to the money supply and the terms of trade. We conclude that the gap model works very well in almost all of the Asian economies we study.

This paper argues that an important group of labor market policies are complementary in the sense that the effect of each policy is greater when implemented in conjunction with the other policies than in isolation. This may explain why the diverse, piecemeal labor market reforms in many European countries in recent years have had so little success in reducing unemployment. What is required instead is deeper labor market reforms across a broader range of complementary policies and institutions. To be politically feasible, these reforms must be combined with measures to address distributional issues.

The paper uses the P-STAR model to analyze Spanish prices from 1970 to 1996, adding the foreign price gap to the standard domestic definition of the P-STAR model (the domestic price gap) to assess the role German price movements played in Spanish inflation. The domestic price gap turns out to be the major explanatory variable for inflation, even after the entrance of Spain in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM). This result suggests that the successful disinflation experienced in Spain in the past few years may be more related to domestic conditions than to foreign ones.

This Selected Issues paper describes a variety of methodologies for estimating a country’s potential output level and presents empirical estimates for Sweden. The paper explains why these methods produce a variety of results, some of which are more plausible than others. The paper looks more closely at one aspect of growth in potential output: how it has been affected by the structural policy improvements of the past several years. The paper examines the pattern of output and unemployment over time to separate permanent changes from cyclical and other temporary changes.

Over the past decade, Indonesia has developed into an important regional and global economy, as well as an active participant in the G20. The chapters in this book document the substantial improvements in the quality of macroeconomic policy that Indonesia has achieved, while also clearly laying out an agenda of measures that should be taken to safeguard these gains and further lower vulnerabilities going forward. Rather than just demonstrating progress in key macroeconomic indicators, the contributors have delved into the ways that global volatility, especially since 2008, has affected Indonesia and how that country has adjusted its policies to meet the new challenges.

Inflation targeting (IT) serves as monetary policy framework in several advanced economies, where it has enhanced policy transparency and accountability. The paper considers its wider applicability to developing countries. The prerequisites for a successful IT framework are identified as an ability to carry out an independent monetary policy (free of fiscal dominance or commitment to another nominal anchor, like the exchange rate) and a quantitative framework linking policy instruments to inflation. These prerequisites are largely absent among developing countries, though several of them could with some further institutional changes and an overriding commitment to low inflation make use of an IT framework.