(Copyright: Elsevier)

This paper uses a small open economy model to address two outstanding issues in monetary policy: (1) what restrictions on the policy rule ensure that the central bank does not introduce real indeterminacy into the economy, and (2) what is the optimal long run rate of inflation. The small open...

is the optimal policy. We derive the targeting criterion that implements optimal monetary policy under commitment and show under what conditions the target depends on leads or lags of the risk premium. Finally, the paper demonstrates that the degree of price stickiness and/or the nature of...

This paper derives the optimal lending contract in the financial accelerator model of Bernanke, Gertler and Gilchrist (BGG). The optimal contract includes indexation to the aggregate return on capital, household consumption, and the return to internal funds. This triple indexation results in a...

Recent monetary policy experience suggests a simple test for models of monetary non-neutrality. Suppose the central bank pegs the nominal interest rate below steady state for a reasonably short period of time. Familiar intuition suggests that this should be inflationary. We pursue this simple...

Low inflation over long periods is the sign of an effective central bank. The authors suggest that a large fraction of the worldwide decline in inflation since the early 1980s results from an international movement toward more independent central banks.

If a central bank adopted a zero inflation target, it would, in practice, occasionally deviate up and down from that rate, and the economy would experience episodes of mild inflation and deflation. Is deflation-a decrease in the level of prices-a cause for concern? Deflation can cause output to...

A discussion of the relationship between money and output, with emphasis on the possibility that changes in output precede changes in money.

Observations that the Phillips curve may be deviating from historical norms are important to policymakers because deviations would imply that more or less output has to be sacrificed to achieve a permanent reduction in long-term inflation. But we argue that recent economic shocks and a shift in...

A look at some of the reasons behind the ascent in health care costs over the last few decades and an analysis of how government policy has both contributed to and tried to rein in these costs.