Jeffrey Lacker, the president of the Richmond Federal Reserve, on 14 November said history had showed that pursuing policies that seek to reduce unemployment and allow inflation to creep up could cause adverse effects on the public's inflation expectations.

At an event in Richmond, Virginia, Lacker said: "It can be very costly to bring inflation down once it has become elevated. As the inflation rate creeps up, consumers and businesses can start to believe that monetary policy will continue to