Should Rules be Simple?

Paul Levine ()

No 515, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: The principal argument of the paper is that in an incomplete information setting, where the private sector lacks information on goverment objectives and has to learn about the policy rule by direct observation and estimation, simple `sub-optimal' rules may outperform the more complicated rule that is optimal under complete information. This result is demonstrated by simulations using an overlapping contract rational expectations model. The paper thus provides some formal reasoning to support arguments for simplicity associated with credibility and the need for the private sector to be able to monitor policy.

Keywords: Credibility; Learning; Rational Expectations; Simple Rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1991-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=515 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Should Rules Be Simple? (1992)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:515

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/ ... pers/dp.php?dpno=515

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CEPR ().