The classification has now been extended to 2017 (so it now covers 44 years in total). In addition, one substantive change has been made: the US 1990-95 is now classified as ‘loosely structured discretion’ LSD instead of ‘well structured discretion’ WSD, which is more consistent with other episodes of LSD. The old classification can be found here, and the old individual country details here.

The nomenclature of the second aggregation of monetary policy frameworks has been changed from ‘stages of development’ – with subgroups ‘basic’, ‘intermediate 1’, ‘intermediate 2’ and ‘developed’ – to ‘degree of monetary control’, with subgroups ‘rudimentary’, ‘intermediate’, ‘substantial’ and ‘intensive’. The change reflects both a view that ‘developed’ begged too many questions and the view that the previous perspective was inappropriately monotonic. The allocation of the various frameworks among these four aggregates has not been changed.

This site is host to a new dataset with a comprehensive classification of monetary policy frameworks, prepared by David Cobham, professor of economics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (with many thanks to Alexander Cobham for his help in setting up the website).

The current dataset covers 60 advanced and emerging economies. Over time the dataset will be expanded to cover some 100 developing economies, starting with those from the Middle East and North Africa and those in Latin America.

This site provides an overview of the approach, including the original working paper; the results for individual countries; and the classification system used.

Researchers are encouraged to use the dataset in any relevant work, and are requested to keep us informed so that we can post links and commentary.