Monograph on economic theory and economic policies relevant to unemployment and inflation, proposing a cost benefit analysis approach to optimal monetary policy for the USA - includes economic models. References and statistical tables.

Originally published in 1985 and contributed to by internationally renowned economists, this volume discusses theoretical issues and country-specific experiences to review the underlying causes of the stagflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as summarizing the kinds of macro-policies that were adopted to deal with the stagflation.

Edited and with an introduction by Benjamin M. Friedman 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 macroeconmics and a practical contribution to the solution of a public policy question of central importance.

Economic Policy and the Great Stagflation discusses the national economic policy and economics as a policy-oriented science. This book summarizes what economists do and do not know about the inflation and recession that affected the U.S. economy during the years of the Great Stagflation in the mid-1970s. The topics discussed include the basic concepts of stagflation, turbulent economic history of 1971-1976, anatomy of the great recession and inflation, and legacy of the Great Stagflation. The relation of wage-price controls, fiscal policy, and monetary policy to the Great Stagflation is also elaborated. This publication is beneficial to economists and students researching on the history of the Great Stagflation and policy errors of the 1970s.

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.

Studies in Macroeconomic Theory, Volume 1: Employment and Inflation is a collection of scholarly papers that accounts the development of a microeconomic theory of wage and price decisions and commitments. The book presents some features of the modern inflationary process and makes sense of some still accepted elements in the postclassical macroeconomics of Keynes and Phillips. The papers in this volume are grouped into seven sections. Part I describes disequilibrium models of employment. Part II gives closer scrutiny to the idea of the "natural" rate of unemployment. Part III studies the welfare economics of inflation in an equilibrium context. The fourth part deals with inflation planning. The papers in Part V discuss hypotheses about the causes of the rise in the rate of inflation in two historical episodes: the American inflation between 1955 - 1957 and 1972 - 1974. Part VI addresses some questions in the theory of economic stabilization by monetary and fiscal policy. The final section of this volume attempts to apply to matters of stochastic social choice, stabilization policy being one instance of such a choice, the conception of justice advanced by Rawls. The compendium will be of value to economists and economic policy makers.