We applaud Alan Greenspan for his 18 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, leading its successful disinflationary monetary and its more orderly conduct of policy and transparency. Ben Bernanke is an outstanding monetary scholar who has long advocated the pursuit of low inflation and...

At our first meeting, ten years ago, we offered a medium-term strategy for ending inflation and restoring productive growth to its long-term average. The rate of inflation for the previous three years was, then, about 5 1/2%. The average rate of money growth -- currency and checkable deposits --...

Pessimism about the current economy and its near-term prospects is overstated. The economy has grown at a 2 1/2% rate for the last two years. This is slightly lower than the average for the last century, but the difference is small. Concerns about near-term prospects have encouraged a return to...

The policies that produced sustained recovery, rising employment and lower inflation have ended. The growth rate of money - currency and demand deposits - has returned to the high levels of 1968, 1972 and early 1973. Government spending is growing again at a faster rate than the economy. The...

Economic policies do not work instantly. Reductions in the growth of government spending that shift resources to more efficient uses do not immediately trigger equal or greater increases in private spending. Tax cuts that encourage saving and effort do not generate instant responses. Reductions...

All the market economies of the world are in the throes of a persistent decline in productivity growth that has produced stagflation every-where. Now, hesitant and uncertain steps to slow inflation have imposed a mild recession and intensified the underlying problem. The peak-to-trough decline...

Economic recovery may be underway. Inflation continues to fall, but the speed and durability of the recovery remain in doubt. Some foresee the economy reverting to stagnation or recession in 1983 after a brief period of expansion. Others foresee sustained recovery with growth of real output...