Towards credibility from inflation targeting: the Brazilian experience

This article analyses the use of the basic interest rate after the adoption of inflation targeting in Brazil and the credibility of this monetary regime through two indices that consider the Cukierman and Meltzer (1986 Cukierman, A and Meltzer, AH. 1986. A theory of ambiguity, credibility and inflation under discretion and asymmetric information. Econometrica, 54: 1099–128. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) definition for credibility. It also shows the main theoretical and practical motives for changes in the conduction of the monetary policy in the 1970s; the way that inflation targeting strategy is inserted in rules vs. discretion analysis; and the main points that characterize the literature concerning inflation targeting. The findings denote that the strategy implemented in Brazil is not a good mechanism to develop credibility.