What is the best way to achieve price stability? Conventional wisdom says that a tough, independent central bank is all that is necessary. However, a new view—the fiscal theory of the price level—argues that an appropriate fiscal policy is also required, no matter how tough the central bank...

Price stability is an important goal of public policy. To reach this goal, two key questions must be addressed: How can price stability be achieved? And, how much price stability is desirable? The authors review the fiscal theory of the price level, with special emphasis on its implications for...

The author contends that luck has played a major role in the fiscal fortunes of the 1990s. He (along with many others) is therefore concerned about the unquestioned presumption that projected budget surpluses are as good as achieved. Such a presumption, he says, is a shaky foundation from which...

An argument that the debate between Congress and the President over how to balance the budget is not simply irresponsible political posturing, but the result of serious and reasoned differences of opinion on the economic consequences of specific spending and tax decisions.