A Private Central Bank: Some Olde English Lessons

ISSATISFACTION with persistent and volatile inflation since the mid-1960s has led to numem’ous calls for a different approach to monetary policy. In some cases, people have suggested that monetary policy decisions be made more explicitly political, for example, subject to greater control by Congress via congressionally mandated monetary growth targets. In the same vein, Milton Friedman has proposed that monetary policy be set by the Treasury, thus making the President of the United States ultimately responsible for its conduct.