This paper examines UK business cycle fluctuations in 22 complete cycles since 1871. We catalogue the incidence and typical duration of UK business cycles. The summary statistics of the economy are explored, including the spectral density, sample covariation and cross spectrum of macroeconomic...

In this paper we review some fundamental issues that have been identified by macroeconomists in discussing the co-ordination of monetary and fiscal policy. As Sargent and Wallace (1981) graphically illustrated, the consolidated public sector present-value budget constraint means that monetary...

Monetary authorities often seem reluctant to discuss the conduct of monetary policy. There is a concern that greater openness in monetary policy-making may lead to volatility in financial markets, and specifically in interest rates. To date there is very little direct empirical evidence; however,...

We develop two variants of an open economy general equilibrium model employing Blanchard-Yaari life overlapping generations, which are shown to capture a number of important aspects of the UK economic cycle. We analyse the equilibrium stochastic processes of the model’s endogenous variables in...

Explicit modelling of factor markets clarifies two fundamental aspects of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC). First, we clarify the relationship between output and marginal cost. Second, for the NKPC in inflation-output space, we identify the key stochastic influences on inflation without...

In a New Keynesian macroeconomic model under credible commitment, price level targeting dominates inflation targeting. But with sufficient inflation aversion the inflation targeting central bank can produce quantitatively similar results to one targeting the price level. The current degree of...

We develop a simple model for studying the impact of monetary and fiscal policies on aggregate demand, at the business cycle frequencies. We focus on two questions principally. First, what are the key properties of the joint optimal simple rules governing the conduct of the systematic components...