With signs of quick economic recovery still nowhere in sight, debate is continuing amid considerable dissension on policy options linked to an inflation target rate.

Hideyuki Aizawa, the Liberal Democratic Party’s re- search subcommittee chairman, is advocating the policy.

His working party, set up earlier this month under the LDP’s financial research committee, is charged with the task of evaluating whether such an option would be appropriate to pull the nation out of its present predicament.

Emerging from its inaugural meeting Feb. 17, Aizawa declared an inflation target is the only effective option to get the shaky economy back on track.

Discussions under way among policymakers, however, demonstrate apparent confusion between an “inflation target” and “managed inflation.”

A policy linked to an inflation target is aimed at stabilizing prices, calling for a constant watch on inflation to pre-empt it before it appears on the horizon.

This is a far cry from a policy aimed at managed inflation, or causing moderate inflation to reflate land and stock prices artificially and to help ease the burden of debt repayment by businesses and the government.

The deputy vice finance minister for international affairs, Takatoshi Ito, has openly expressed dismay over the confused debate.

I doubt the confusion has intentionally been induced amid worries about economic prospects.

Despite a series of fiscal and monetary policy measures, economic recovery remains tenuous.

The jobless rate edged higher to a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent in December, and the economy apparently contracted for the second consecutive quarter in the October-December period.

Given bleak employment prospects and a depressed household income, a quick pickup in consumer spending appears unlikely.

Yet, the simplistic thinking of introducing a managed inflation policy won’t serve anyone’s purpose.

As Ito pointed out, no major nation has ever tried a policy aimed at inducing controlled inflation or conducted extensive studies on such an option.