Category Archives: Monetary Policy
Econ 1, Tiger Woods, and the Crisis@10
Today is the first day of the fall quarter at Stanford, and I begin teaching Economics 1, the introductory economics course, and the course after which this blog is named. The first day is always exciting, especially with many first-year … Continue reading
Turkey Tantrum Contagion Not Automatic, Rather Policy Dependent
Many have been talking about possible international contagion of the financial crisis in Turkey, and Peter Coy touched on the key issues in yesterday’s Bloomberg piece. Recent economic history and theory offer powerful lessons about contagion. Most important is that … Continue reading
Rules and Strategies in the Fed’s New Monetary Policy Report
The Fed’s Monetary Policy Report released last Friday devotes a lot of space to monetary policy rules. This is the third time in a row that the monetary policy report has included such discussions, the first being in July 2017 … Continue reading
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What We Wanted We Got: A Debate on the Fed’s Balance Sheet
A big question addressed at this year’s annual Hoover monetary conference was “The Future of the Central Bank Balance Sheet,” including the amount of reserve balances that banks hold at the Fed. The issue is one that “the [Federal Reserve] … Continue reading
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Still Crazy After All These Years—And What About the Next 50
Yesterday I was talking to a friend in my office about the great benefit to students from writing undergraduate honors theses in their senior year. I have long advised students to do so, perhaps because of the rewarding experience I … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Teaching Economics
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Monetary Policy Getting Back on Track
In many ways, the Fed has begun to bring monetary policy back on track as it emphasizes a strategy and the use of monetary policy rules: On January 18 of last year, former Chair Janet Yellen described the Fed’s strategy … Continue reading
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Unique Cooperative Research Effort
This week marks the 20-year anniversary of a “notable conference” on monetary policy as Ed Nelson, who reminded me, puts it. The conference took place at the Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys on January 15-17, 1998, and it resulted … Continue reading
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The Fed’s Inflation Target and Policy Rules
The Brookings Institution held an interesting conference yesterday organized by David Wessel on “Should the Fed Stick with the 2 Percent Inflation Target or Rethink It?” Olivier Blanchard and Larry Summers argued, as they have elsewhere, that the Fed should … Continue reading
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A Policy Rule Presented at a Conference 25 Years Ago Today
Ed Nelson sent me a nice note today saying that the past two days (November 20-21) mark “the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Carnegie-Rochester Conference at which you laid out your rule.” I had forgotten about the specific dates, but his … Continue reading
Posted in Monetary Policy, Teaching Economics
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New Results on International Monetary Policy Presented at the Swiss National Bank
This week I gave the Swiss National Bank’s Annual Karl Brunner Lecture in Zurich, and I thank Thomas Jordan who introduced me and the hundreds of central bankers, bankers, and academics who filled the big auditorium. Karl was a brilliant, … Continue reading
