Interesting comments on NAIRU from outgoing.....>

ECB: Interesting comments on NAIRU from outgoing ECB vice president Vitor

Constancio this morning:

"In view of all the uncertainty, policy-makers should seriously consider the

possibility of dropping the NRH as a long-term stable concept that can be

estimated from Phillips curves and used in policy decisions. This does not imply

abandoning the idea behind the Phillips curve as a pure forecasting device with

a positive slope coefficient indicating that strong growth of aggregate demand,

given time, will increase inflation. What should be refused is the idea that

there is a unique identifiable level of unemployment, corresponding to a level

of stable structural unemployment, above which expansionary macro policy

exclusively accelerates inflation".