(This view had been deeply entrenched in New Zealand, perhaps because the economist whose name is often, unfairly, associated with this belief, Bill Phillips, was New Zealand’s best known economist.) But it was clear well before our legislation was passed that there is no such enduring trade-off, that, in the jargon, the long-run Phillips curve is vertical.
Our own experience prior to 1984 - of high inflation and very poor growth - demonstrated the point conclusively. •  Secondly, in these circumstances, where there is no enduring trade-off between inflation and growth, the most sensible inflation rate for monetary policy to target is price stability.