Athanasios Orphanides and John C. Williams' excellent conference paper, "Inflation Scares and Forecast-Based Monetary Policy," contributes importantly to the new and rapidly growing branch of the literature on bounded rationality and learning in macroeconomics. Their paper, like many others,...

Previous empirical study on the effects of monetary policy shocks in small open economies has produced exchange rate responses that are inconsistent with existing open economy macroeconomic theory. We argue that a careful identification of monetary policy in an explicit open economy setting is...

In this paper the authors study the stability properties of the alternative steady-state equilibria that arise in a neoclassical production model that delivers pleasant monetarist arithmetic. They show that if the government’s monetary policy rule involves a fixed money supply growth rate,...

In a speech at a Global Interdependence Center (GIC) conference in Paris, France, Sandra Pianalto, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, explains how global price pressures can increase the complexity of formulating monetary policy.

I remain convinced that low and stable inflation rates will help us prosper as a nation. I hope that my remarks will help to dispel some of the mystery surrounding the Federal Reserve and help you to better understand our commitment to price stability and maximum sustainable growth.

President Pianalto first explains why maintaining price stability requires keeping inflation expectations low and secure. Second, she describes some inflationary risks that may become significant down the road. Finally, she discusses why, in the face of these risks, central banks' ability to...

I want to explain some of the factors that I believe have shaped current policy decisions and some of the economic signposts I am watching for on the horizon. I will begin with some perspectives on the goals and direction of monetary policy. Then I will describe how we as a nation are...

I will begin with some background on how we make monetary policy decisions. Next, I will explore how our economy's performance is influencing the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions. Finally, I will discuss how clear communications can factor into the policymaking process.

I would like to share with you some of my thoughts about economic forecasts and monetary policy. I will begin with some comments about the economy's recent performance and the outlook for 2006. Next, I will explain why making sound policy decisions requires me to think about both the demand and...