Abstract
This paper analyzes two economics-related articles from the mainstream United States media from September to November 2006 - "Chairman Seeks Inflation Targets to Calm Markets" by Kevin Hall and "How Much is too Much? Fed Looks for its Comfort Zone in the Debate over Inflation" by Nell Henderson. The paper analyzes the complex dilemmas facing policymakers and economists in dealing with economic issues, such as inflation.

From the Paper
"This view of problems with indices measuring inflation is not unique to the United States, for Canadian policymakers have grappled with similar problems in effectively obtaining measures of inflation according to the various indices - such as the Consumer Price Index - that are used in Canada (Mankiw and Scarth 2005). Given these problems with measuring the rate of inflation accurately, we can understand why some of the commentators in Hall's article express unease about fixing a target rate and imposing changes in monetary policy that may actually - if inadvertently - lead to disinflation."

Tags:policy, economists, macroeconomics, disinflation