That Two Percent Inflation Target and Silly Things Economists Say

I see Paul Krugman has picked up on my friend Jared Bernstein's post asking where the Fed's 2.0 percent inflation target came from. He argues that it is a pretty much arbitrary compromise between the idea that the target should be zero (the dollar keeps its value constant forever) and the idea that we need some inflation to keep the economy operating smoothly and avoid the zero lower bound for interest rates. This is far too generous.

I recall reading the literature justifying the 2.0 percent...