A substantial study of inflation targeting was published in 1999 by Ben Bernanke, Thomas Laubach, Rick Mishkin and Adam Posen.1 In their book, they described it in the following way: “Inflation targeting is a framework for monetary policy characterised by the public announcement of official quantitative targets (or target ranges) for the inflation rate over one or more time horizons, and by explicit acknowledgement that low, stable inflation is monetary policy’s primary long-run goal.
Among other important features of inflation targeting are vigorous efforts to communicate with the public about the plans and objectives of the monetary authorities, and, in many cases, mechanisms that strengthen the central bank’s accountability for attaining those objectives.” In providing that definition, the authors of this study take some care to describe inflation targeting as a framework as opposed to a rule.