Federal Reserve officials are discussing whether to adopt an explicit target for inflation, a strategy long advocated by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and practiced by central banks from New Zealand to Canada, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The talks coincide with Fed efforts to spur growth and reduce unemployment without fueling higher prices. An inflation target could help quiet critics of record monetary stimulus and anchor public expectations for consumer prices should the Fed in coming months try to spur the recovery by keeping interest rates close to zero for longer.

"My sense is that this may be a done deal, though not one likely to be implemented soon, and perhaps not until economic conditions return to closer to normal," said Laurence Meyer, senior managing director and co-founder of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC and a former Fed governor. "The chairman is obviously for it, and it is hard to find anybody on the FOMC who now is really opposed to it."