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A New Hearing and, Possibly, a New Phase in Monetary Policy
Today’s hearing of the House Monetary Policy subcommittee—the first of the new Congress with the new chair Andy Barr from Kentucky—provided a good opportunity to discuss policy in light of new and different decisions by the Fed, new and different … Continue reading
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Benefits of Comparing Policy with Reference Rules
In a recent VOX article, Henrike Michaelis and Volker Wieland write favorably about the approach taken by Fed Chair Janet Yellen in a recent speech where she compares recent Fed policy actions with several monetary policy rules—including the Taylor rule—much … Continue reading
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Monetary Policy Strategy Statements Should Have a Strategy
At its meeting this week the Fed decided not to post changes in its “Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy” as might have been expected as part of its annual organizational meeting actions as it did last year at this … Continue reading
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Good Progress on Describing and Comparing Monetary Strategies
Janet Yellen visited San Francisco and Stanford last week. She gave two interesting talks about monetary policy, which together, in my view, break new ground, and are worthy of more discussion. At the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco she briefly … Continue reading
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Show Us Your Model and Your Method
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today I addressed claims made by Neel Kashkari in an earlier op-ed about rules-based monetary reforms, showing that his claims that the reforms were mechanical or computer-run were simply false and misleading. Kashkari mentioned … Continue reading
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Unconventional Monetary Policy, Normalization, and Reform
This week the Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “Unconventional Monetary Policy.” Charles Plosser, Mickey Levy, Simon Johnson and I testified. It was a good hearing with pertinent questions by Members of Congress, … Continue reading
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A New Opportunity for Monetary Reform
The opportunity for pro-growth tax reform (lower rates with a broader base) and pro-growth regulatory reform (with rigorous cost-benefit tests) is now better than it has been in years, because of similarities between reform ideas put forth by Congress—many in … Continue reading
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Central Bank Models: A Key to Future Monetary Policy
In thinking about the future of monetary policy, it’s important to consider legislative reforms and appointments, but it’s also important to consider the economic models that have come to be a key part of policy making in central banks. The … Continue reading
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A World Cup in the Battle of Ideas
Markus Brunnermeier, Harold James and Jean-Pierre Landau have just published a fascinating book, The Euro and the Battle of Ideas, in which they bring together their respective skills in economic theory, economic history and economic policy to bear on one … Continue reading
Should the Previous Framework for Monetary Policy Be Fundamentally Reconsidered?
“Did the crisis reveal that the previous consensus framework for monetary policy was inadequate and should be fundamentally reconsidered?” “Did economic relationships fundamentally change after the crisis and if so how?” These important questions set the theme for an excellent … Continue reading


