Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Takashi Senda Title: How Can the Public Monitor Monetary Policy? Abstract: On August 11, 2000, the Bank of Japan made one of the most controversial decisions in the history of monetary policy when it ended its zero-interest-rate policy and increased the overnight rate to 0.25%. This paper aims to examine whether or not this decision to terminate the zero-interest-rate policy was premature. In this study, I argue that this decision by the Bank of Japan to tighten monetary policy in 2000 was unreasonable as there still remained a great deal of slack in the economy and inflation was not far from its target. On reading the minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting of August 11, 2000, I observe that some arguments for tightening monetary policy seem to confuse rates of change and levels. Keywords: Monetary Policy, Forecast Targeting, Inflation Targeting, Bank of Japan, JEL Codes: E52, E58 Journal: American Journal of Economics and Business Administration Pages: 38-46 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Year: 2017 Month: July DOI: 10.3844/ajebasp.2017.38.46 File-URL: https://thescipub.com/pdf/ajebasp.2017.38.46.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-URL: https://thescipub.com/abstract/ajebasp.2017.38.46 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:abk:jajeba:ajebasp.2017.38.46