Persistence in International Inflation Rates

We test for fractional dynamics in CPI-based inflation rates for twenty-seven countries and WPI-based inflation rates for twenty-two countries. The fractional differencing parameter is estimated using semiparametric and approximate maximum likelihood methods. Significant evidence of fractional dynamics with long-memory features is found in both CPIand WPI-based inflation rates for industrial as well as developing countries. Implications of the findings are considered and sources of long memory are hypothesized.