This paper examines the impact of a persistent shock to the growth rate of total factor productivity in a New Keynesian model in which the central bank does not observe the shock. The authors then investigate the performance of alternative policy rules in such an incomplete information...

Amidst the overall strength and longevity of the U.S. economic expansion of the 1990s, a growing current account deficit is one indicator that often is viewed with concern. In this article, Michael Pakko discusses some basic economic principles about current accounts and how they relate to the...

Inflation can cause costly misallocations of resources as consumers seek to protect the purchasing power of their nominal assets. In this article, Michael R. Pakko discusses the nature of these distortions - known as "shoe-leather" costs - in a model where the demand for money is motivated by a...

The strength of U.S. productivity growth in recent years has been attributed to technological improvements that are, in some sense, embodied in new types of capital equipment. However, traditional growth theory and growth accounting techniques—which emphasize the role of disembodied, neutral...

This paper revisits the debate over the money supply versus the interest rate as the instrument of monetary policy. Using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework, the authors examine the effects of alternative monetary policy rules on inflation persistence, the information content of...