Fed's Fisher-Globalized economy an inflation buffer

HOUSTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said on Friday that a globalized economy created a buffer against price pressures by raising productivity.

"Globalization raises the economy's speed limit, allowing policymakers to relax a little and let the economy expand at rates that might once have been considered unsustainable," Fisher said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Houston World Affairs Council.

"In a globalized world, faster growth need not carry the same inflationary implications as it does in the closed world," he said.

Fisher did not address the current economy or interest rate outlook. A copy of his remarks was made available in advance.

He termed inflation "the bete noire of any progressive economy and the bane of Federal Reserve officials."

Fisher is not a voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2007.

Arguing that the Fed needs better tools to measure the global economy, Fisher said that "data that do not reflect the world in which we live increase the chances for errors in judgment."