This paper compares the P-bar model of price adjustment with the currently dominant Calvo specification. Theoretically, the P-bar model is more attractive as it depends on adjustment costs for physical quantities rather than nominal prices, while incorporating a one-period information lag....

Arguments are developed concerning a number of topics including long-run monetary neutrality, superneutrality, the natural-rate hypothesis, the quantity theory of money, the equation of exchange, the Fisher equation, and purchasing power parity. These are basic, fundamental topics that all...

During the past several years, a striking body of literature has appeared in which it is argued that general price level determination is essentially a fiscal, rather than monetary, phenomenon. The most prominent papers have been those of Woodford (1994, 1995, 2001), Sims (1994, 1997), Leeper...

For introductory presentation of issues involving identification and estimation of simultaneous equation systems, a natural vehicle is a model consisting of supply and demand relationships to explain price and quantity variables for a single good. One would accordingly expect to find in...

The paper reviews issues related to the zero lower bound (ZLB) on interest rates and argues that all of the following propositions are invalid: (1) in a ZLB situation, "shaping interest rate expectations is essentially the only tool that central bankers have" (Bernanke, Reinhart, and Sack...

The fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL) has attracted much attention but disagreement remains concerning its defining characteristics. Some writers have emphasized implications regarding interest-rate pegging and determinacy of rational expectations solutions, whereas others have stressed...

It is argued that learnability/E-stability is a necessary condition for a RE solution to be plausible. A class of linear models considered by Evans, G.W. and Honkapohja, S. [2001. Learning and Expectations in Macroeconomics, Princeton University Press.] is shown to include all models of the form...

The paper reconsiders the role of money and banking in monetary policy analysis by including a banking sector and money in an optimizing model otherwise of a standard type. The model is implemented quantitatively, with a calibration based on US data. It is reasonably successful in providing an...

Recent analysis by Clarida, Galí, and Gertler (1999), Jensen (2002), Svensson and Woodford (1999), Walsh (2002), and especially Woodford (1999a, 1999b, 2000) has been highly productive in advancing the profession’s understanding of optimal monetary policy. Specifically, these papers emphasize...

This paper explores the behavior of inflation in countries that formally target inflation - relative to countries with historically good inflation records - but, which do not target the rate of change in the consumer price index (CPI). Pierre L. Siklos examines the design of inflation targets...