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Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

2001

Monetary policy

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Fiscal Policy: Its Macroeconomics In Perspective, James Tobin May 2001

Fiscal Policy: Its Macroeconomics In Perspective, James Tobin

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

President George W. Bush is preparing a drastic permanent reduction in federal income and estate taxes. He cites as precedents tax cuts by Kennedy-Johnson 1962-64 and Reagan 1981. In those cases, however, the economy was operating well below full employment and needed a “demand-side” stimulus (even though Reagan advertised his tax reduction as “supply-side”). In 2001, however, the economy is very close to full employment, and if it needs a stimulus at all, it is a quick modest temporary one instead of the large permanent one proposed. And why can’t monetary policy do the job of stabilization, as it did …


On Modeling The Effects Of Inflation Shocks, Ray C. Fair Apr 2001

On Modeling The Effects Of Inflation Shocks, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A popular model in the literature postulates an interest rate rule, a NAIRU price equation, and an aggregate demand equation in which aggregate demand depends on the real interest rate. In this model a positive inflation shock with the nominal interest rate held constant is explosive because it increases aggregate demand (because the real interest rate is lower), which increases inflation through the price equation, which further increases aggregate demand, and so on. In order for the model to be stable, the nominal interest rate must rise more than inflation, which means that the coefficient on inflation in the interest …


Estimates Of The Effectiveness Of Monetary Policy, Ray C. Fair Apr 2001

Estimates Of The Effectiveness Of Monetary Policy, Ray C. Fair

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper examines various interest rate rules, as well as policies derived by solving optimal control problems, for their ability to dampen economic fluctuations caused by random shocks. A tax rate rule is also considered. A multicountry econometric model is used for the experiments. The results differ sharply from those obtained using recent models in which the coefficient on inflation in the nominal interest rate rule must be greater than one in order for the economy to be stable.