How Monetary Policy Got Behind the Curve--And How to Get Back - by Michael D Bordo & John B Taylor & John H Cochrane (Hardcover)

About the Book

Proceedings of the conference How Monetary Policy Got behind the Curve, and How to Get Back held May 6, 2022 at the Hoover Institution.

Book Synopsis

With the inflation rate in the United States and many other countries on the rise for over a year and nearing double digits, the Hoover Institution hosted its 2022 conference on monetary policy. Policy makers, market participants, and academic researchers gathered to discuss the situation. Many agreed that low interest rates and high money growth were inappropriate given the high inflation rate and evidence that the United States has recovered from the deep recession induced by the pandemic and its policy response in 2020. The thoughtful papers and the thorough discussions in this volume of conference proceedings illustrate the debate about the reasons for this mismatch, as well as how to get back on track. They reflect a range of opinions and perspectives, including examination of the fiscal shock resulting from the COVID pandemic and the related borrowing and spending; emphasis on the value of adherence to rules versus discretion in setting Fed policy; lessons from history in the spikes in federal expenditures during times of war (including the pandemic) and in the timing of the Fed's use of its policy instruments; the role of central banks in the emerging inflation crisis; and strategies toward disinflation.

Review Quotes

"An invaluable guide to understanding and resolving the current surge in inflation."

--MERVYN KING, former governor, Bank of England

"This timely conference volume encompasses a broad examination of current key monetary policy challenges. Experts provide insights from differing perspectives about the Fed's belated move away from the zero lower bound, and about how the Fed can again reach its inflation target. Contributors include both current and former Fed officials."

--JOHN LIPSKY, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Institute, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and former first deputy managing director, International Monetary Fund

"This timely and substantive volume is simply a must-read for anyone interested in the way forward for US monetary policy. The volume draws on the insights of current and former Fed officials as well as the expertise and insights offered by a who's who of academic scholars and financial market participants. The essays are uniformly rigorous and accessible."

--RICHARD CLARIDA, C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Columbia University

About the Author

Michael D. Bordo is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Board of Governors Professor of Economics and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial History at Rutgers University.

John B. Taylor is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics and director of the Introductory Economics Center at Stanford University.

John H. Cochrane is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.