En granskning av Goodharts och Rochets utvärdering av Riksbankens politik

This paper reviews Charles Goodhart's and Jean-Charles Rochet's evaluation of the policy of the Swedish Riksbank during 2005-2010. A merit in the evaluation is that it advocates macro and not only micro prudential policies in the preventive efforts to support a stable financial system. However, we are critical about the lack of discussion on the presently weak basis of the economic theory of prudential policies. This calls for a precautionary principle in the design and implementation of reform. When it comes to monetary policy, there should have been a careful analysis of the divergence of opinion among the members of the Board of Governors, which is almost completely disregarded by the evaluaters. It seems that the decisions in the Riksbank have been characterized by an obvious bias towards too low inflation during the evaluation period.