Given this experience with the devastation that such inflation can bring to the economy and to people’s lives, it comes as no surprise that your public and your policymakers give such careful scrutiny to the available measures of inflation.
Germany has a reputation for special vigilance in guarding the stability of the price level and has achieved an admirable record of success in maintaining low inflation over the postwar period. From the standpoint of monetary policy, this very success makes accurate price measurement all the more important.