Money Growth And Stability

This sequel to Frank Hahn's "Equilibrium and Macroeconomics" presents his theoretical work published over the past thirty years. The twentyone contributions have been selected on the basis of their relevance to current economic debate, and they comprise some of Hahn's most widely cited and influential essays.Organized in five parts - Money, Non-Walrasian Equilibria, Stability, Growth, and Miscellaneous - most of the essays concentrate on monetary theory and economic dynamics (or stability). In the first instance, Hahn shows that classical Arrow-Debreu general equilibrium theory cannot be used for monetary theory. A reconstruction of this theory turns out to have some surprising welfare economics implications. Concerning dynamics, Hahn's main preoccupations are with price dynamics that allow trading at "false" prices and with the stability of growth equilibrium with heterogeneous capital goods, which remains important to current theorizing on rational expectations equilibria.The remaining essays cover a variety of topics such as the influence of uncertainty on savings and excess capacity in imperfect competition. The book also includes an introduction by Hahn commenting on each essay, and his Jevons Lecture, "In Praise of Economic Theory."Frank Hahn is Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and the author of "Equilibrium and Macroeconomics" (MIT Press 1985) and "Money and Inflation "(an MIT Press paperback).

Controlling inflation is among the most important objectives of economic policy. By maintaining price stability, policy makers are able to reduce uncertainty, improve price-monitoring mechanisms, and facilitate more efficient planning and allocation of resources, thereby raising productivity. This volume focuses on understanding the causes of the Great Inflation of the 1970s and ’80s, which saw rising inflation in many nations, and which propelled interest rates across the developing world into the double digits. In the decades since, the immediate cause of the period’s rise in inflation has been the subject of considerable debate. Among the areas of contention are the role of monetary policy in driving inflation and the implications this had both for policy design and for evaluating the performance of those who set the policy. Here, contributors map monetary policy from the 1960s to the present, shedding light on the ways in which the lessons of the Great Inflation were absorbed and applied to today’s global and increasingly complex economic environment.

Under the direction of Nobel laureate Robert A. Mundell and Paul J. Zak, eminent contributors to Monetary Stability and Economic Growth offer a unique insight into the way that economists analyse the causes of money (mis) management in the US, Latin America, Europe and Japan, and prescribe stabilising reforms. Their lively discussion provides answers to various questions including: How does monetary stability affect economic growth? How can nations best achieve monetary stability? When is monetary union desirable? Which anchors for monetary stability are likely to be most effective? How will the euro affect financial markets and the international monetary system? Is international monetary reform possible, and how can it be achieved? The mechanisms that link monetary policy including foreign exchange regimes and the international monetary system to economic performance are examined, and the ways in which countries can stimulate economic growth are explored. This superb narrative volume, brought alive by the debate between leading economists, is contextualised by the editors excellent introduction. It will be of immense interest to students, researchers and teachers of macroeconomics and financial economics as well as professional economists.

MONETARY PROBLEMS—a by-product of the indirect system of exchange—have long plagued the nations of the world. History is replete with instances in which such problems led not only to economic instability and uncertainty, but to political crises as well. In our own American experience there has hardly been a period when the economy was not beset by one type of monetary ill or another. Consider, for example, the more important monetary disturbances of our own time, viz., those of the last 30 years or so. Our legacy from the financial collapse of 1929 was a monetary and banking system which was virtually defunct. Though some progress was made in shoring up our monetary and banking institutions after 1933, this of itself was inadequate to help us escape the deflation and mass unemployment which persisted throughout the 1930’s. For the decade of the 1940’s, of course, the pendulum swung to the other side of the arc. Following the outbreak of World War II, and particularly after our direct involvement in 1941, an attempt was made to hold the line against inflation. This attempt achieved at best only partial success. Support by the Federal Reserve System of the prices of government securities, wartime military expenditures, the postwar investment boom, and the postwar pent-up demand for consumer goods backed by liquid assets acquired during the War combined to produce a rise in prices throughout the War and early postwar period. Although inflation subsided somewhat after 1948, it was intensified by the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in the period after 1950. During the latter part of 1953, and throughout 1954 and 1955, prices remained relatively stable. But in 1956, the inflationary rise received a new stimulus. Caused largely by another investment boom, the inflationary movement had such momentum that it caused prices to rise even in the face of the 1957-1958 recession. Professor Friedman’s objective in this third of the Moorhouse I. X. Millar Lecture Series is certainly not one of finding a formula which will eradicate all uncertainty and instability attending monetary disturbances. For these, as he puts it, are “unavoidable concomitants of progress and change.” However, it is possible to attenuate further the amplitude of our fluctuations by modifying, and in some cases completely revamping the monetary and banking arrangements currently in force in the United States. Specifically, this is the task to which Professor Friedman addresses himself. This classic is organized as follows: Chapter One. The Background of Monetary Policy Why Should Government Intervene in Monetary and Banking Questions? The Historical Background The Period From 1837 To 1843 The Contraction of 1873-79 The 1890’s The Contraction of 1907-08 Under the Federal Reserve System Conclusion Chapter Two. The Tools of the Federal Reserve System Tools of Specific Credit Policy Eligibility Requirements Control Over Margin Requirements Control Over Consumer Installment Credit Control Over Interest Paid by Banks on Deposits Tools of Monetary Policy The Sufficiency of Open Market Operations Rediscounting Variation in Reserve Requirements Conclusion Chapter Three. Debt Management and Banking Reform Debt Management Banking Reform Defects of Present Banking System Possible Remedies How 100% Reserves Would Work Transition to 100% Reserves The Relation of 100% Reserves to Debt Management Why Interest Should Be Paid on Reserves How Interest Payments on Reserves Might Be Determined Conclusion Chapter Four. The Goals and Criteria of Monetary Policy International Monetary Relations Internal Monetary Policy Conclusion Summary of Recommendations

"Publication of the Principles of Freedom Committee." Includes bibliographical references.

This classic set of essays by Nobel Laureate and leading monetary theorist Milton Friedman presents a coherent view of the role of money, focusing on specific topics related to the empirical analysis of monetary phenomena and policy. The early chapters cover factors determining the real quantity of money held in a community and the welfare implications of policies that affect the quantity held. The following chapters formally restate why quantity analysis has become central to the science of economics. Friedman's presidential address to the American Economic Association, included here, provides a general summary of his views on the role of monetary policy, with an emphasis on its limitations and its possibilities. This theoretical framework is used in examining a number of empirical problems: the demand for money, the explanation of price changes in wartime periods, and the role of money in business cycles. These essays summarize some of the most important results of Friedman's extensive research over the course of his lifetime. The chapters on policy that follow survey the positions of earlier economists and deal with the importance of lags and the implications of destabilizing speculation in foreign markets. Taken as a whole, The Optimum Quantity of Money provides a comprehensive view of the body of monetary theory developed in leading centers of monetary analysis. This work is essential reading for economists and graduate students in the field. The volume will be no less important for practicing business and banking personnel as well. The new statement by Michael Bordo, a student of Friedman's and an expert in the field, provides a sense of where the field now stands in the economy and academy. Milton Friedman is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Before that, he was Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He has also taught at Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, and Cambridge University. Among his many books are Essays in Positive Economics, A Program for Monetary Stability, Capitalism and Freedom, and A Monetary History of the United States. Michael D. Bordo is professor of economics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and author, with Lars Jonung, of, among other works, Demand for Money.