What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis

Books, May 20, 2014

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What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis

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Bibliographic details

• Published: May 20, 2014
• Series: Books
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9780262027342.071

Overview

• Since 2008, economic policymakers and researchers have faced a reconfigured economic environment in which previous consensuses have been upended and former assumptions cast into doubt.
• The book compiles insights from leading economists and policymakers convened by the International Monetary Fund in April 2013 to discuss emerging macroeconomic contours after the crisis.
• George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate and one of the volume’s editors, uses the analogy of "a cat stuck in a tree, afraid to move" to describe the crisis’s effects on behavior and decision-making.

Major themes and substantive findings

• Reassessment of traditional policy focus:
  • Post-crisis questions about the traditional policy focus on inflation and the implications for monetary frameworks.
• Macroprudential policy:
  • Examination of macroprudential tools that focus on the stability of the entire financial system rather than individual firms, and their effectiveness.
• Fiscal policy and public debt:
  • Discussion of fiscal stimulus, public debt, and fiscal consolidation choices in the aftermath of the crisis.
• Exchange rate arrangements:
  • Consideration of exchange rate arrangements as part of the macroeconomic policy toolkit.
• Broader research and policy implications:
  • Policymakers have been forced to improvise; researchers have been prompted to rethink basic theory.
  • The volume offers combined insights from the April 2013 IMF meeting on how macroeconomic policy might evolve.

Policy recommendations and discussion points (as presented)

• Re-evaluate reliance on inflation as the sole or primary stabilization target in light of crisis-era dynamics.
• Assess the role and effectiveness of macroprudential tools for system-wide financial stability.
• Balance the short-term benefits of fiscal stimulus against medium-term public debt and consolidation needs.
• Reconsider exchange rate arrangements within a broader set of macroeconomic policy responses.

Key statistics and publication metadata

• Pages: 369
• Publication date on landing page: May 20, 2014
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9780262027342.071
• ISBN: 9780262027342
• Stock No: RMCPEA

Source: What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis — International Monetary Fund. Canonical URL: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/books/issues/2016/12/31/what-have-we-learned-macroeconomic-policy-after-the-crisis-40626