Rules and discretion in trade policy

U Rules and Discretion in Monetary Policy

HOULD MONETARY POLICY be determined by a legislated rule or by a monetary authority’s discretion? Henry Simons (1936) first raised this issue as a choice between rules and authorities, terms little different than those used in recent discussions. He stresses the value of a rule, such as a law, instead of reliance on an authority’s discretion because “definite, stable, legislative rules of the g...

Discretion versus policy rules in practice

This paper examines how recent econometric policy evaluation research on monetary policy rules can be applied in a practical policymaking environment. According to this research, good policy rules typically call for changes in the federal funds rate in response to changes in the price level or changes in real income. An objective of the paper is to preserve the concept of such a policy rule in ...

Rules versus discretion in fiscal policy

This paper purports to apply the Kydland-Prescott framework of dynamic inconsistency to the case of fiscal policy, by considering the trade-off between output and debt stabilization. The Government budget constraint provides the link between debt dynamics and the level of activity, influenced by fiscal policy. Contrary to what happens in the monetary policy framework, however, a commitment is n...

Rules, Discretion and Reputation in a Model of Monetary Policy*

In a discretionary regime the monetary authority can print more money and create more inflation than people expect. But, although these inflation surprises can have some benefits, they cannot arise systematically in equilibrium when people understand the policymaker’s incentives and form their expeziations accordingly. Because the policymaker has the power to create inflation shocks ex pest, th...

Rules and Discretion in the Conduct of Monetary Policy