Should the European Central Bank react to on price changes of assets?

The main objective of most central banks in the world including the European Central Bank is the safeguarding of stable prices. Measured by price trends for goods and services, the central banks in most industrialised countries have been quite successful in recent years. The strong price fluctuations for assets present a different picture: share prices have declined but real estate prices have clearly increased. Thus, some economists are arguing for an expanded definition of the inflation goal in which asset prices are included. A multi-country macroeconomic model shows that monetary policy in Europe from 1994 to 2001 would have been more restrictive under these conditions. But on the whole, the effects of a broader definition of the inflation goal are very small.