Overall, it became increasingly evident through the last decade that the inflation target deals with expectational problems. Among close observers of the economy, as well as businesses and those bargaining over wages, it promotes a much greater degree of confidence and understanding than monetary targets or a vaguely expressed desire for price stability ever did. People care about inflation.
Yet, despite their historical importance for aggregate inflation, energy prices, for example, are controlled for in only one of the structural models discussed at this conference.