BERL has been involved in the debate around the role of monetary policy since the RB Bill in 1989.  We have argued strongly that the scope of the RB on inflation is too narrow.

There was a select committee inquiry into monetary policy in 2007, to which BERL put in a submission.  We then put in a subsequent submission which has been quoted by Phil Goff in an article that suggests Labour may break its long running accord with National to support the current approach to monetary policy. 

In fact, the article appears to directly quote lines from the BERL submission, such as that the focus on inflation has caused "a vicious cycle of unintended and undesirable consequences"; has meant that interest rates were raised to higher levels than most countries and had attracted foreign funds into New Zealand, enabling a rise in house prices and causing big fluctuations in the financial sector.

We are pleased that the topic has been raised again and believe that this might turn out to be the start of a policy debate that will have major significance for economic growth and prosperity in New Zealand.