A massive structural budget deficit threatens the long-term economic health of the United States. But the fiscal imbalance won't necessarily fuel inflation as long as the Federal Reserve retains the independence to pursue its objectives of maximum sustainable employment and price stability. The...

Presentation to Town Hall Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, March 23, 2010

Remarks before the Australian Business Economists, Sydney, Australia, November 14, 2007. ; Our job has been made more complicated by globalization--the freer flow of goods, services, money, ideas and people across national borders. Its present incarnation owes a great deal to the revolution in...

"While it seems pretty clear that economic momentum is slowing, the jury is out on whether lesser momentum will be sufficient to translate into relief on the price front over the intermediate to longer term. In East Texas parlance, 'It might could but it mightn't'; it most definitely has not...

"The earnest men and women who make up the FOMC have no intention of squandering the bedrock capital of a central bank: the confidence the public places in our hands to keep inflation at bay while we work to bolster economic growth and restore the financial system." ; Remarks before the Progress...

Presentation to the Banque de France International Symposium on Globalisation, Inflation and Monetary Policy (Paris, France, March 7, 2008)

The U.S. economy appears to have experienced a pronounced shift toward higher productivity over the last five years or so. We wish to understand the implications of such shifts for the structure of optimal monetary policy rules in simple dynamic economies. Accordingly, we begin with a standard...