This paper presents a model of dynamically consistent monetary policy that explains changes in inflation over time. In the model -- as in the postwar United States -- adverse supply shocks trigger persistent increases in inflation, and disinflation occurs when a tough policymaker creates a...

This paper shows that small costs of changing nominal prices can lead to rigidities that cause highly inefficient fluctuations in real variables. As a result, aggregate demand stabilization can be very desirable even though the frictions that cause fluctuations in aggregate demand to have real...

This paper provides an assessment of the consistency of unemployment and output forecasts. We show that, consistent with Okun’s Law, forecasts of real GDP growth and the change in unemployment are negatively correlated. The Okun coefficient—the responsiveness of unemployment to growth—from...