The monetary policy rules that are widely discussed--notably the Taylor rule--are remarkable for their simplicity. One reason for the apparent preference for simple ad hoc rules over optimal rules might be the assumption of full information maintained in the computation of an optimal rule....

Monetary policy is modeled as governed by a known rule, except for a time-varying target rate of inflation. The variable target is taken as representing either discretionary deviations from the rule, or as the outcome of a policymaking committee that is unable to arrive at a consensus....

It is commonly believed that a monetary policy that targets the price level reduces the long-term variability of the price level but only at the cost of increased variability in both inflation and output. This paper shows that this result may not hold so long as increases in the real rate of...

This paper uses real-time briefing forecasts prepared for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to provide estimates of historical changes in the design of US monetary policy and in the implied central bank target for inflation. Empirical results and FOMC transcripts support a neglected...

This paper studies monetary and fiscal policy rules, and investigates the characteristics of optimal policies. The central focus of the paper is on the comparison of two types of fiscal rules: a balanced budget and a target for the primary surplus. Balanced budget rules (or, more generally,...

During emerging market crises, domestic agents might have sufficient collateral to borrow from the other domestic agents, but they are unable to borrow from foreigners because the country, as a whole, lacks international collateral. In this setting, we show that an (ex-post) optimizing central...

Observed inflation targets around the industrial world are concentrated at two percent per year. This chapter investigates the extent to which the observed magnitudes of inflation targets are consistent with the optimal rate of inflation predicted by leading theories of monetary non-neutrality....

The theoretical foundation of inflation targeting was laid out by the Swedish economist Knut Wicksell (1851-1926) in his groundbreaking treatise, Interest and Prices, published originally in German in 1898. Here he proposed price stability as the rule for monetary policy. Today, inflation...

The monetary policy rules that are widely discussed--notably the Taylor rule--are remarkable for their simplicity. One reason for the apparant preference for simple ad hoc rules over optimal rules might be the assumption of full information maintained in the computation of an optimal rule....