Selecting Your Inflation Targeters: Background and Performance of Monetary Policy Committee Members

Abstract

Abstract This paper starts by describing the composition of monetary policy committees (MPCs) in inflation-targeting and non-targeting countries. The experience of MPC members on their inflation performance is then compared, opposing inflation targeters with non-targeters. Our sample covers the major Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, in the period 1999-2008. Our results first show that MPCs are different in inflation-targeting (versus non-targeting) countries. They also reveal that policy-makers’ backgrounds influence inflation, and that the influence of MPCs’ experience is much greater in inflation-targeting countries, while size effects are more important for committees that do not target inflation.