Central Bank’s Impact on Inflation Expectations of Households

Abstract

The article analyzes the central bank’s impact on inflation expectations. Its starting point is the predominant role of expectations in the monetary policy – implied by the monetary theory. After that it presents main points of inflation targeting – focusing on the aspects that support expectations formation. Main body of the research is the analysis of the central banks’ of the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary solutions in shaping expectations. Empirical part of the research covers quantitative research on the interdependences of consumers’ expectations (derived from surveys) and inflation forecasts of the central banks. The results confirm that the forecast of inflation is correlated with inflation expectations of consumers. The strength of interdependences is at most moderate. No direct relation between the strength of interdependences and monetary framework was found.