Monetary-policy

This book is written by one of the giants in modern macroeconomics. Although a little bit lengthy, the book contains nearly all the recent advance in monetary economics, especially in the interest rate rules and optimal monetary policy. Of course, you should be familiar with log linearization and simple matrix algebra in order to access the mathematics of the book. Woodford¡¦s Interest and prices and Walsh¡¦s Monetary Theory and Policy (2nd edition) would definitely become the required text for every graduate course in monetary economics around the world.

Recently, Adam Posen (an influential US monetary economist)has written some really good stuff on Japan's economic problems. It was his name on the cover that persuaded me to buy this book.

If you want a rich and in depth - in some parts academic - account of why Japan is struggling then this is for you. There are four themes...1) the origin of Japan's banking problems 2)comparisons of Japan's banking problems and the US S&L crisis 3) political problems faced by those who wish to see the BOJ adopting very loose money and 4) how the BOJ's monetary policy can be adapted to these exceptional circumstances and used to promote a sustainable recovery.

If you read this and Posen's previous books on Japan you'll be well equipped to understand what is wrong with the world's second largest economy. The only weak area is the treatment of fiscal matters. Those are largely ignored, even though fears of government bankrupcty weigh heavily on the financial markets.

The book is a great compilation of articles that tough on the most important macroeconomic issues facing Latin America on the eve of the new decade. The book is completely policy orientte but it offers an excelent mix of scholarly technical work with non technical insightful policy analysis. The authors are well known scholars and policy makers.

T. C. Powers describes a plausible model of how the American capitalist economy works at the macro level. He then goes on to compare the predictions of the model to actual economic performance data over the last 100 years. The main independent variable in Powers' model is "leakage", which is money paid out (as wages and profits) by the composite producer for production of GNP that is not paid back as consumption of GNP. Powers shows that leakage is the main cause of three major economic woes: slow growth, unemployment and inflation. Powers' model shows _how_ leakage works and how the data confirm the predictions of the model. Powers describes two main sources of leakage: the tight money policies of the Federal Reserve Bank and extreme maldistribution of income. The book makes a convincing case for the importance of looking for ways to plug up the leaks in the economy in order to unleash the full potential of capitalist productivity.

excerpt from review by Governor John Crow:

"(The authors) have captured the essence of the issues confronting (central bankers) and there's enough variety of circumstance and treatment to propel the topic vigorously through the seven chapters

I've read a number of books about central banking written in recent years. Unlike those books, (this Work) deals with the real questions the policy-maker faces - in a way that a textbook cannot match."

-- John W. Crow, Governor, Bank of Canada

Quite the read: fluid, sober, well written and systematic in its approach. Pioneering the approach to this question, Randall Stone utilizes many different tools to present his argument and send his message. Not only is it sound in its argument, but also an enjoyable read. Anyone interested in real research about the impact of the IMF should consult this book.

what an amazing book! i loved the style of short lectures that were easily disgestible.

Marrianne Williamson's work is both real and honest. Rather than couch things in a concepts that are alien or extremely religious, she talks to you about the realities of existing. Of how things will not always be easy, about how you will lose your way, and honestly how to see people clearly. Growth is messy, it's not neat, maturity is not easy, nor is spirtiuality delicate work, but with assistance from a tape like this you can see yourself clearly and how to bridge yourself from concept to human to spiritual being.

Ringrazio Bellofiore per avermi dato la possibilità, con l'organizzazione del convegno da cui trae origine la pubblicazione, di conoscere autori rigorosamente censurati nel panorama editoriale italiano. A proposito: quant'è vera la considerazione marxiana che i proprietari dei mezzi di produzione determinano anche la produzione delle coscienze! E' sorprendente per un Italiano, che nel proprio paese può al massimo arrivare fino ai neoricardiani, scoprire che c'è una puntuale ricostruzione del pernsiero di Marx ed una piena rivalutazione della teoria del valore lavoro, della teoria della moneta, della leggge sulla caduta tendenziale del saggio del profitto ecc. Nel libro viene evidenziato che il dibattito sul problema della trasformazione è stato la conseguenza di un'assurdo equivoco durato più di mezzo secolo. In particolare emerge con la massima evidenza che il modello di Sraffa a) ponendo uguali tra loro i prezzi degli input (risultato del periodo di produzione precedente) e quelli degli output, elimina il tempo dal discorso economico; b) ponendo una merce come numerario, non risolve il problema della determinazione dei valori assoluti e non ha una teoria della moneta; c) ponendo i salari come paniere di beni, tratta gli stessi come il foraggio per il bestime e giunge a determinare i salari reali prima di quelli monetari, proprio al contrario di come avviene nell'economia reale. Al contrario "l'errore" di Marx scompare semplicemente presupponendo che il valore del capitale costante trasferito in quello della merce prodotta è esattamente, com'è naturale, il costo effettivamente sostenuto dal capitalista, cioè un valore già "trasformato". Da qui vengono recuperate tutta una serie di intuizioni di Marx mandate frettolosamente al macero dai "marxisti" alla Ricardo. Credo che, partendo da questa ricostruzione, sia possibile spiegare anche molte delle recenti evoluzioni del sistema economico mondiale e molte delle "nuove" contraddizioni.

Pressochè tutti i contributi del volume, riferiti agli argomenti più vari affrontati nel terzo libro del Capitale, sono di eccezionale interesse. A quando una edizione per il pubblico italiano?

I was drawn back to Eamonn Butler's 1985 book while working my way through the latest venture by Brian Snowdon and Howard Vane. Almost twenty years after the publication it still seems as fresh as ever and should still be considered the best introductory work about Milton Friedman particularly for the student.

Given the advances in macroeconomics which have taken place since the 1970s, an era now fading away thankfully into distant memory, it is not surprising that concerns about money continue to dominate the debate. World events, such as deflation in Japan and the tremendous efforts by Federal Reserve Governor Greenspan to prevent such an occurrence in the United States, continue to place the Friedman analysis and theory at the centre of the ongoing discussion.

This magnificent little book has at it's centrepiece Friedman's work on Monetary Theory. Butler, writing from the position of a fellow free-marketeer does an outstanding job restraining his infectious free market self to provide an exemplary elucidation of Milton Friedman's writings and how they overcame sustained attack from the Keynesian orthodoxy to establish themselves as a counter-revolution. He does not assume much prior knowledge of the reader but seeks to establish with remarkable clarity Friedman's position and how he got there. He certainly does real justice to the nature of the attacks and examines their arguments carefully. Fairness is a good description of his approach. He is not afraid to bring in criticism from the Austrian school to show that attacks on Friedman's work are not only from the left.

In the latter sections of the book he also looks at Friedman's position as a free marketeer and some of the policy proposals he has made and also in the final chapter, which for me was the most interesting he looks at some of the methodological issues generated by Friedman.

One is reminded of the remark attributed to Popper that a theory which explains everything explains nothing when reading this chapter. Butler robustly defends Friedmans theorizing based on empirical evidence and casts aside the majority of objections to this approach. he chides those who make their models more and more complex to include new developments and candidly criticizes those economists who talk among themselves in the rarified realms of abtruse reasoning. As John Lennon once said, 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'. There is one issue where Butler concurs that Friedman's theory is open to attack and that is on the question of adjustment costs involved in relative price changes as a result of a monetary diturbance.

I am not convinced that the final chapter should not have been the first but it certainly fits nicely into the logic of the book that Eamonn Butler has written so well.

This is a book that is enthusiastically recommended for any student of economics or even just an interested reader. Should also be required reading for anyone going into public service for the first time but then so should much of Eamonn Butler's other work which comes from the Adam Smith Institute.