Quando a grande maioria dos politicos discute o custo politico de politicas fiscais restritivas, esse estudo demonstra como a sociedade pode perceber os beneficios dessas politicas, sem custos politicos (no caso a perda do poder), para os que tomam as decisoes. Muito oportuno! A The Economist publica as previsoes de crescimento para 2012, no topo da tabela esta a Libia, seguida de Mongolia e Macau (a ilha colonizada por portugueses), entre outros. Ao mesmo tempo, a revista demonstra as previsoes de maiores decrecimos da riqueza nacional prevista para 2012, onde e liderada pelo Sudao, seguida por Grecia, mas conta com nomes como Suica, Italia, Espanha, Holanda e, pasmem! Alemanha. Desde os anos 1990 tem sido defendido a uso de metas para inflacao como regime de conducao da politica monetaria. Muitos paises aderiram ao modelo desde entao. O Brasil seguiu essa tendencia a partir de 1999, embora recentemente tenha tomado decisoes que tem surpreendido o mercado (o regime de metas para inflacao objetiva justamente o contrario, no que tange a comunicacao e as decisoes de politica monetaria).Abaixo relata-se as metas de alguns bancos centrais que adotam esse regime.ECB"The primary objective of the ECBs monetary policy is to maintain price stability. The ECB aims at inflation rates of below, but close to, 2% over the medium term."Bank of Canada"We are Canada's central bank. We work to preserve the value of money by keeping inflation low and stable."RBA"The Governor and the Treasurer have agreed that the appropriate target for monetary policy in Australia is to achieve an inflation rate of 23 per cent, on average, over the cycle. This is a rate of inflation sufficiently low that it does not materially distort economic decisions in the community. Seeking to achieve this rate, on average, provides discipline for monetary policy decision-making, and serves as an anchor for private-sector inflation expectations."SNB"The SNB is thus charged with resolving in the best general interests any conflicts arising between the objective of price stability and business cycle considerations, giving priority to price stability. The requirement to act in the interests of the country as a whole also means that the National Bank must gear its policy to the needs of the entire Swiss economy rather than the interests of individual regions or industries."BOI"The Bank of Israel uses the tools available to it to achieve the targets specified in the Bank of Israel Law: price stability as its prime objective; support for the government's economic targets, in particular growth, employment, and the narrowing of social gaps, provided that these actions do not prevent it from achieving price stability over time; and support for the stability and orderly functioning of the financial system. Clearly the latter objective has been the focus of special attention recently, in the context of lessons learned form the latest global crisis."Alguns deles sao comprometidos exclusivamente com a estabilidade dos precos, outros mantem em suas metas crescimento economico, sistema financeiro estavel, etc, no entanto, nestes casos a estabilidade dos precos (definidos com uma meta explicita, ou banda), e posta como prioridade e deve ser perseguida pelo banco central.