Import Tariffs and the Output–Inflation (Variability) Trade-Off under Different Central Bank Mandates

The David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies (LEWI), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, cordially invites you to join our upcoming seminar:

Import Tariffs and the Output–Inflation (Variability) Trade-Off under Different Central Bank Mandates

Speaker:  Prof. Alfred V. Guender

Department of Economics and Finance, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Research Associate, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA), Canberra

Date:  Tuesday, 1 September 2026

Time:  3:30 – 5:00 pm

Venue:  Room WYS1312, Dr. Wu Yee Sun Building, Baptist University Road Campus, HKBU

Register: Scan the QR code on the poster or click this link:https://hkbuchtl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0wzepn1DiKt8S46
 

Import tariffs are back on the policy agenda. Beyond their familiar efficiency and welfare costs, tariffs carry macroeconomic consequences that reach directly into the central bank’s policy problem. In this seminar, Prof. Guender examines the effect of a tariff on the imported consumption good from the perspective of a central bank operating in a stochastic environment, in a small open economy where capital moves freely across borders.

Contrasting a narrow mandate with a broad mandate that additionally targets real exchange rate stability, he shows how a rising tariff compels the central bank to place greater weight on the output gap at the expense of domestic inflation, and how the output–inflation variability trade-off shifts under each mandate. The seminar will be of interest to colleagues and students working in economics, finance, public policy and international studies.

All staff and students are warmly welcome to attend. Please register using the link above or by scanning the QR code on the poster, and feel free to circulate this invitation to colleagues and students who may be interested.

For enquiries, please contact Kenny Kam at kenny_kam@hkbu.edu.hk.