Browser issue

It looks like the browser you're using doesn’t work well with our website. For a better experience, please update to the latest version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.

Revealing monetary policy preferences

Christie Smith

This paper uses multiple criteria decision making, also termed conjoint analysis, to reveal the preferences of central bank policy-makers at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Guided by the Policy Targets Agreement between the Governor of the Reserve Bank and the Minister of Finance, we identify policy-makers’ willingness to trade off inflation outcomes for reductions in volatility in GDP, the exchange rate, and interest rates. Using 1000Minds software, policy-makers are presented with a sequence of pairwise choices that ultimately quantify which macroeconomic attributes are most important to them. The paper also distinguishes between the preferences of senior management, and a broader cross-section of economists and other staff.