Category Archives: Monetary Policy
Monetary Policy a Half Century Ago, and Now
Today I published an article in Project Syndicate. It starts with a memo sent fifty years ago, on June 22, 1971, by Fed Chair Arthur Burns to President Richard Nixon. Inflation was rising and Burns wrote to Nixon that the … Continue reading
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Amazing New Facts About the 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis
This week Raghu Rajan spoke at the Hoover Economics Policy Working Group on “Going the Extra Mile: Distant Lending and Credit Cycles” a joint paper João Granja and Christian Leuz. Here is a video of his presentation https://www.hoover.org/events/policy-seminar-raghuram-rajan-1 along with … Continue reading
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The Impact of the Pandemic and Lasting Lessons for Teaching Economics
Yesterday, I gave a keynote talk at the tenth American Economic Association Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education (CTREE). I have been teaching economics for 53 years. I love teaching economics. I love researching economics. And I love … Continue reading
Electronic-Commerce, Non-Store Sales and the Pandemic
Last week at the American Economic Association meetings, held online, many papers focused on Covid-19. A good example was the session organized by Dominick Salvatore which included Jan Eberly, Raghu Rajan, Carmen Reinhart, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, and me. Most … Continue reading
Macroeconomic Modelling of Pandemics at Warp Speed
A pressing research issue with deep policy relevance concerns how econometric models should be adapted, changed, or modified in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new Webinar series–Macroeconomic Modelling and Pandemics–has been created to examine this issue, to exchange views … Continue reading
A Conference That Would Have Been and Still Will Be
Two months ago, on March 14, 2020, we cancelled our annual Hoover monetary policy conference at Stanford on “Central Bank Strategy Reviews and Their Global Impact” then scheduled for May 1, 2020. The reason was that Stanford declared that “university … Continue reading
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A Fast and Fun Way to Learn about Rules Versus Discretion
The Hoover Institution has initiated a fascinating Perspectives on Policy video series in which experienced experts give clear explanations of key policy issues assisted by the latest in animation technology. This is not the typical video of talking heads as … Continue reading
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Central Bank Independence Is Not Enough
Four former chairs of the Fed wrote in the Wall Street Journal today about the importance of Fed independence. I agree, but their article should have emphasized that independence is not enough. Economic performance has been affected by large shifts … Continue reading
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Africa Meeting of Econometricians: History, Revival and Ways Forward
I just spent a wonderful few days at the 2019 Africa Meeting of the Econometric Society held in Rabat, Morocco with the central bank, the Bank Al-Maghrib, providing an excellent venue. Congratulations to the Bank Al Maghrib for its 60th … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Crisis, Monetary Policy
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Recent Decisions and Rules of the Fed
Last week, after attending monetary policy conferences at Stanford, Chicago and Frankfurt, I put forth evidence in EconomicsOne.com of a revival of research on monetary policy rules for the instruments, whether at the conferences, in research papers, or in Fed publications. … Continue reading
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