Our analysis has an explicit frequency-domain flavor, as we search for an output component
featuring high coherence with deviation of the underlying inflation from the target. Our paper is related to investigations of den Haan and Sumner (2004), who also use frequency domain arguments to analyze comovement of output and prices in G7 countries. Our approach differs from theirs in the way we analyze and construct the underlying inflation measure and we use the invariance property of the coherence, a spectral analogue to correlation, to deal with nonstationary data. In contrast to den Haan and Sumner (2004), we acknowledge the inflation targeting nature of modern monetary policy in the euro area, and therefore we focus on the dynamics of inflation, not price level.