Who targets inflation explicitly?

Several countries have recently adopted explicit inflation targeting (EIT). This paper applies probit analysis on data for 22 countries to show that t he degree of central bank independence is positively correlated with the pr obability that inflation targeting is adopted. There is also evidence (depe nding on whether Iceland and Norway are included in the sample) that the pr obability that EIT is introduced is influenced by membership in the Europea n Union, the commodity concentration and composition of exports (which are correlated with measures of the importance of supply and external shocks), and the degree of openness. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.