Inflation, Unemployment, and
Monetary Policy
The connection between price
inflation and real economic activity has been a focus of macroeconomic research and
debate-for much of the past century. Although this connection is crucial to our
understanding of what monetary policy can and cannot accomplish, opinions about its basic
properties have swung widely over the years.
Today, virtually everyone
studying monetary policy acknowledges that, contrary to what many modern macroeconomic
models suggest, central bank actions often affect both inflation and measures of real
economic activity, such as output, unemployment, and incomes. But the nature and magnitude
of these effects are not yet understood.
In this volume, Robert M.
Solow and John B. Taylor present their views on the dilemmas facing U.S. monetary
policymakers. The discussants are Benjamin M. Friedman, James K. Galbraith, N. Gregory
Mankiw, and William Poole. The aim of this lively exchange of views is to make both an
intellectual contribution to macroeconomics and a practical contribution to the solution
of a public policy question of central importance.
Robert M. Solow is Institute
Professor of Economics Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John B.
Taylor is Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Benjamin
M. Friedman is William Joseph Maier Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
The Alvin Hansen Symposium on
Public Policy, Harvard University
116 pages