Macroeconomic performance of countries across monetary policy regimes from 2000 to 2017

Abstract

The goal of the article is to compare macroeconomic performance of 27 advanced and emerging OECD countries through the lens of their monetary policy frameworks. We find no advantage of the euro area countries and countries whose central banks follow a dual mandate in inflation and output stabilisation as compared to full-fledged inflation targeters including strongly inflation-averse central banks. The study contributes to the unresolved discussion on optimal monetary policy after the Great Recession. The novelty relies on employing a synthetic median-based measure adjusted for initial macroeconomic conditions. The failure to account for the initial conditions leads to underestimation of performance of countries with an originally unfavourable economic situation. We verify the results with panel data models using macroeconomic variables of key importance for monetary policy after the Great Recession. Overall, the study suggests that assigning a special role to money or output in a monetary policy strategy is not required for successful macroeconomic performance.