Don Brash

Don Brash appears in Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour) as the central banker chosen to force New Zealand inflation down. The episode says he restricted the money available to regular banks and asked workers and businesses to behave as though inflation were already near the new target.

Brash’s role is the painful implementation side of Inflation Targeting. New Zealand reached the target earlier than planned, in 1991, but the episode stresses that unemployment rose above 11% and stayed high for years.

Connections

• New Zealand / 新西兰 and Reserve Bank of New Zealand - country and central-bank setting.
• Arthur Grimes - economist who designed the target framework.
• Inflation Targeting, Multiple Equilibria, and Central Bank Independence - policy and credibility concepts.