## What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis

_Books, May 20, 2014_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/books/issues/2016/12/31/what-have-we-learned-macroeconomic-policy-after-the-crisis-40626)

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: May 20, 2014
- Series: Books
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9780262027342.071

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### 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*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/books/issues/2016/12/31/what-have-we-learned-macroeconomic-policy-after-the-crisis-40626_