11 If one argues for a fixed exchange rate, it is reasonable that one explains why the costs of having a floating exchange rate should now have become too great. As far as I am concerned, I cannot see that this has happened. On a more general level, one needs to explain why the general benefits of a fixed exchange rate are considered greater than those of a floating rate, including that the latter can function as a shock-absorber in times of crisis. If one thinks that the krona should be retained but tied to the euro, for example, it is of course an advantage if, in the light of our past negative experiences, one has a convincing story as to why this type of arrangement would work this time. It is also possible to go a step further and argue in favour of Sweden abolishing the krona and introducing the euro instead. This is obviously an even bigger decision as it is basically irrevocable. If one believes that adopting the euro would be a good idea, I am sure it is possible to find several good reasons for doing so. But I cannot see that one of these would be that the inflation-targeting regime has been ineffective and made us poorer as a people and nation. My most important messages Let me round off by summarising my main messages. I started by presenting my reasoning at the most recent monetary policy meetings.
In such a hypothetical case, we would thus not “give up the inflation target” and suddenly start conducting an entirely different policy and, for example, raise the interest rate. There would still be reason to conduct a policy that is as expansionary as we deem possible, to avoid taking longer than necessary to attain the target. However, one consequence might be that the Riksbank’s communication becomes even more central. The damage in a situation where monetary policy is not made more expansionary, despite inflation being expected to undershoot the target for a long time, will be much less if the general public can be convinced that the target has not been abandoned, but that it is merely a question of taking longer than normal to attain it. Clarifying this would be a difficult but hopefully not impossible task. Often unclear whether the criticism applies to monetary policy or the target Having gone through how I view the current situation and discussed a few related aspects, I would now like to widen the perspective a little and talk about more fundamental issues. More specifically, I thought I would go into why we have the framework we have, with an inflation target and a floating exchange rate, and what benefits this system provides. This is not the first time I have done so, but I  8 Jansson (2016). 6 [17]  believe it is useful and important to remind people of this now and then.