And the tendency for this kind of systematic error is exactly why we need an objective and predictable monetary policy like nominal GDP targeting.

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The Dow sunk one more time, all the way to 770 in 1982, when the Federal Reserve began targeting the price of gold in monetary policy and the big Reagan tax cuts started to phase in.

FORBES: The Dow Is Retracing the Stagflation Market

Labour's Chris Leslie warned that there might be circumstances under which the aims of the Financial Policy Committee, which primarily focuses on financial stability, clashed with those of the Monetary Policy Committee, which mainly deals with inflation-targeting, but is also obliged to take growth into account when making decisions.

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During the 1990s, which was the last time that monetary policy was actually working well, the Fed was secretly targeting commodity prices.

FORBES: Hey, Ben Bernanke, How About A Return To Normalcy?

Targeting a large and unglamorous niche can yield tremendous monetary rewards.

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The current stampede of industrial and emerging countries alike toward floating-cum-inflation targeting, and away from exchange-rate and monetary anchors, suggests that this combination is the only real alternative to giving up a national currency in favour of monetary union or dollarisation.

ECONOMIST: Letters

Speaking on Monday, he said he was also "sceptical" of alternative monetary policy targets to price stability, such as gross domestic product targeting, since any, even temporary, loosening of inflation expectations would "poison" central bank credibility.

CNN: US Treasury triggers fall in yen

That is a big difference from inflation targeting, which always looks forward and, in effect, treats every monetary policy committee meeting as if it were the first.

BBC: A new target for the Bank of England?

Mr Carney said there was room "within the framework of flexible inflation targeting that exists in most advanced economies", for central banks to achieve monetary stability over the appropriate horizon.

BBC: Davos 2013: A 'sigh of relief' at the World Economic Forum

In his defence of classical monetary policy in the German city of Freiburg, Mr Weidmann also attacked the idea of shifting away from inflation targeting.

CNN: US Treasury triggers fall in yen

Precisely what "flexible inflation targeting" can and should mean is, of course, the great subject of the moment among UK monetary policy nerds (and plenty of economic journalists) as we eagerly await the arrival of the new UK bank governor.

BBC: Davos 2013: A 'sigh of relief' at the World Economic Forum