The paper evaluates the performance of three popular monetary policy rules when the central bank is learning aboutthe parameter values of a simple New Keynesian model. The three policies are: (1) the optimal non-inertial rule; (2)the optimal history-dependent rule; (3) the optimal price-level...

This paper considers the 1990s in the context of long run economic growth performance. Growth in the context of this paper should be understood to comprise the growth of real living standards as well as real GDP per person. There were a number of new experiences during the decade that were...

This paper reassesses and extends Hawke’s passenger railway social savings for England and Wales. Better estimates of coach costs and evidence that third class passengers would otherwise have walked reduce Hawke’s social savings by two-thirds. We calculate railway speeds, and the amount and...

This paper constructs measures of market potential for British regions based on the spatial distribution of GDP and its accessibility. The results show that the North, Scotland and Wales were much less 'peripheral' before World War I than in 1985. The main reason for the deterioration in their...

The paper builds on a method proposed by Geary and Stark (2002) for estimating regional incomes in Victorian Britain. This is modified by using tax data to allocate non-wage income across regions. The results suggest that the coefficient of variation of regional GDP per head was rising rapidly...

The prominent role of monetary policy in the U.S. interwardepression has been conventional wisdom since Friedman andSchwartz [1963]. This paper presents evidence on both thesurprise and the systematic components of monetary policybetween 1929 and 1933. Doubts surrounding GDP estimates forthe...