Using evidence from seven hyperinflationary episodes in four Latin American countries in the second half of the 1980s, John Rogers and Ping Wang examine the causes and consequences of high inflation. The article emphasizes four issues: the welfare costs of inflation and real costs of...

This article examines whether price indexes, such as the CPI, the PPI, and the implicit price deflator for GDP (PGDP), tell a consistent story about the general price level and inflation rate. To this end, Zsolt Becsi analyzes the time series properties of these indexes. He finds that the PGDP...

Much of the 1992 presidential campaign focused on which fiscal policies would best promote economic growth. In this article, Zsolt Becsi develops an analytical and graphical framework to evaluate the long- and short-run effects of a variety of taxation and expenditure policies. ; Becsi shows...

Economic and monetary union (EMU) among eleven of the fifteen members of the European Union began on January 1, 1999. The national currencies of the eleven were abolished and replaced with a new single currency, the euro. Responsibility for monetary policy shifted from the national central banks...

Reform of the U.S. tax system has become the focus of much political discourse in recent years. Proposals have called for many types of change-from the relatively modest, like more favorable treatment of capital gains or tax credits for college education, to more radical plans to introduce a...

The U.S. recession that began in July 1990 may have ended in April or May 1991. The pace of the subsequent recovery has been so sluggish as to be indistinguishable, in the eyes of many, from continued recession. One explanation for the sluggish pace of the recovery is that the recession itself...

This article reviews the idea that sticky prices are important for understanding business cycles. Mark Wynne begins with a critical survey of the literature documenting the stylized facts about prices in individual markets. His first point is that there is remarkably little evidence that the...

Productivity growth is the single most important determinant of improvements in a country's living standards over time. Accordingly, the U.S. productivity slowdown of the past two decades has caused great concern and sparked much debate. ; In this article, Mark A. Wynne argues that the problems...

On January 1, 1999, the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) began conducting monetary policy for eleven of the fifteen nations of the European Union, formally creating an economic and monetary union. The ESCB is governed by the decision-making bodies of the European Central Bank (ECB) and...

This article reviews the various means through which governments and central banks have sought to guarantee long-run price stability. Finn Kydland and Mark Wynne argue that monetary regimes or standards can all be viewed as more or less successful attempts to overcome the well-known...