E31 - Price Level; Inflation; DeflationReturn

The article deals with the exchange rate policy of India in the period 1999-2013. The first part informs about specificity of Indian economy. These features (apart from the Great recession) have brought Indian economy to sluggish growth after 2010. Next part is concentrated on Indian exchange rate policy and forex exchange market. The last part scrutinizes Indian balance of payments. It pays attention to widening current account deficit till 2012. Moreover, the current account deficit has been financed primarily by debt for approximately last five years.

On 7th of November 2013 the Board of the Czech National Bank decided to start using the exchange rate CZK/EUR as an additional instrument for easing the monetary conditions in order to avoid the long-term undershooting of the inflation target. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on CNB Board´s resolution mentioned above showing that our country has a very bad experience with deflation. In the first part the deflation and its "good" and "bad" versions are defined. The second part deals with the Czechoslovak government´s effort to appreciate the currency, which leaded into deflation connected with economic recession. In the third part the influence of the Great Depression and of the end of the classical Gold Standard on the Czechoslovak economy is assessed. Lastly the deflation which took place at the turn of the 20th century and its possible implications on the monetary policy are mentioned.

Milton Friedman, American Nobel price winner for Economics, was one of the most important economists in the 20th century. He contributed to the development of macroeconomic theory as well as to the new concept of monetary policy. In the area of economic theory two of main Friedman´s contributions are recorded: the new interpretation of the Quantity Theory of Money and the theory of the Natural Rate of Unemployment. In the area of economic policy his criticism of neo-Keynesian orientation to the stimulation of effective demand and the interest rate targeting is mentioned and his recommendation to manage the money supply is underlined. Friedman´s criticism of the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve during the Great Depression is also paid attention to as well as the contemporary monetary policy of the American central bank.