A reconsideration of the doctrinal foundations of monetary-policy rules: Fisher versus Chicago

George Tavlas

No 273, Working Papers from Bank of Greece

Abstract: There has long been a presumption that the price-level-stabilization frameworks of Irving Fisher and Chicagoans Henry Simons and Lloyd Mints were essentially equivalent. I show that there were subtle, but important, differences in the rationales underlying the policies of Fisher and the Chicagoans. Fisher’s framework involved substantial discretion in the setting of the policy instruments; for the Chicagoans the objective of a policy rule was to tie the hands of the authorities in order to reduce discretion and, thus, monetary-policy uncertainty. In contrast to Fisher, the Chicagoans provided assessments of the workings of alternative rules, assessed various criteria -- including simplicity and reduction of political pressures -- in the specification of rules, and concluded that rules would provide superior performance compared with discretion. Each of these characteristics provided a direct link to the rules-based framework of Milton Friedman. Like Friedman’s framework, Simons’s preferred rule targeted a policy instrument.

Keywords: monetary policy rules; Chicago monetary tradition; Irving Fisher; Henry Simons; Lloyd Mints; Milton Friedman (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B22 E52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-his, nep-hpe, nep-mac and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: A RECONSIDERATION OF THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF MONETARY POLICY RULES: FISHER VERSUS CHICAGO (2021)
Working Paper: A Reconsideration of the Doctrinal Foundations of Monetary-Policy Rules: Fisher versus Chicago (2021)
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