Assuming a production process with returns to scale that vary with the intensity it is operated at, an AK-model of endogenous growth with constant returns to scale in production is shown to arise due to replication driven by profit-maximization. If replication occurs at the efficiency-maximizing...

Assuming a production process with returns to scale that vary with the intensity it is operated at, an AK-model of endogenous growth with constant returns to scale in production is shown to arise due to replication driven by profit-maximization. If replication occurs at the efficiency-maximizing...

In a standard New-Keynesian sticky-price model of monetary policymaking, we show that formulating the policy objective of a monetary union in terms of a weighted average of objectives for inflation and output in each of the member countries, instead of union-wide aggregate inflation and output,...

Because optimal plans are time-inconsistent, continuing one from a previous period is not optimal from today's perspective, and may not outperform discretion, even ignoring gains from surprise deviations. Hence, contrary to conventional wisdom, a binding and credible commitment does not always...

Few economic events of recent years have attracted as much attention as the announcement by the People?s Bank of China on July 21, 2005, that henceforth the exchange rate of the Renminbi (RMB) would not be kept fixed in relation to the U.S. dollar, but would be managed relative to a basket of...

During the early months of 2003, there was something of a buzz in monetary policy circles about the prospect of a move toward inflation targeting as a policy regime for the Federal Reserve. One leading manifestation was a prominent article in the Wall Street Journal on March 31 concerning the...

The SOMC is a collection of individuals, so we do not always agree fully on all issues. There are certain similarities of viewpoint across individuals, however, that give a recognizable flavor to most of the committee?s analyses and positions. Three leading examples are beliefs that governmental...

At our last meeting of the Shadow Open Market Committee, in April, I discussed Japanese monetary policy. Specifically, I argued (i) that it has been overly restrictive for almost a decade, (ii) that the Bank of Japan?s policy changes of March 19, 2001, are welcome but probably insufficient,...

The United States is almost alone among industrial countries in having no monetary standard. It has, that is, no institutionalized guarantee or even explicit objective concerning the purchasing power of its money. Between 1971 and 1990, this was true of most industrial countries but since then...

Arguments are developed concerning a number of topics including long-run monetary neutrality, superneutrality, the natural-rate hypothesis, the quantity theory of money, the equation of exchange, the Fisher equation, and purchasing power parity. These are basic, fundamental topics that all...