Comments for Macroeconomic Thought over the Last Fifty Years http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org ECON 488: Advanced Macroeconomics Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:17:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 Comment on A Response to Hoover’s The New Classical Macroeconomics by classical versus keynesian economics http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/19/a-response-to-hoovers-the-new-classical-macroeconomics/#comment-367 classical versus keynesian economics Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:10:12 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/19/a-response-to-hoovers-the-new-classical-macroeconomics/#comment-367 [...] [...] [...] [...]

]]> Comment on A Response to Stockman’s “Real Business Cycle Theory: A Guide, an Evaluation, and New Directions” by ab exercise machine http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/28/a-response-to-stockmans-real-business-cycle-theory-a-guide-an-evaluation-and-new-directions/#comment-363 ab exercise machine Thu, 22 May 2008 01:39:38 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/28/a-response-to-stockmans-real-business-cycle-theory-a-guide-an-evaluation-and-new-directions/#comment-363 <strong>ab exercise machine...</strong> I like your blog and will come back soon... ab exercise machine…

I like your blog and will come back soon…

]]> Comment on A Response to Friedman’s “The role of monetary policy” by tphayden http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/03/a-response-to-friedmans-the-role-of-monetary-policy/#comment-26 tphayden Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:57:23 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/02/03/a-response-to-friedmans-the-role-of-monetary-policy/#comment-26 Having read the same article as you did Brandon, I feel like Friedman in this article was giving us an outline for how monetary policy should be maintained. I think that setting a target rate and somewhere around the "natural rate of unemployment" and maintaining that stability can be a smart way to go. I think the problem with that is that the people at the FED have very little control over Fiscal Policy and that when lawmakers take Fiscal Policy way too far, the FED has to step in with monetary policy to clean up the mess that Congress made. Having read the same article as you did Brandon, I feel like Friedman in this article was giving us an outline for how monetary policy should be maintained. I think that setting a target rate and somewhere around the “natural rate of unemployment” and maintaining that stability can be a smart way to go. I think the problem with that is that the people at the FED have very little control over Fiscal Policy and that when lawmakers take Fiscal Policy way too far, the FED has to step in with monetary policy to clean up the mess that Congress made.

]]> Comment on A Response to Lansing’s “Can the Phillips Curve Help Forecast Inflation?” by bshapiro http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/28/a-response-to-lansings-can-the-phillips-curve-help-forecast-inflation/#comment-13 bshapiro Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:52:09 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/28/a-response-to-lansings-can-the-phillips-curve-help-forecast-inflation/#comment-13 What I gathered from the reading is that Atkeson and Ohanian (2001) constructed what they called a "naive model" from the short-run Phillips curve. To construct the model, they regressed the four-quarter change in inflation and used the most recent regression equation to construct the forecasted inflation level over the following four quarters. The two authors concluded that this "naive model" claims that the unemployment rate has leads to no indication as to the future inflation rate because the level of unemployment changed constantly as inflation rates may or may not have changed. Between 1984-1996, Atkeson adn Ohanian show that the "naive" forecasts are almost statistically identical to that used by the Federal Reserve. Essentially, they mention these shortcomings and say that at best, the Phillips curve should only be used to derive a rough estimate of the direction of change for the inflation rate. What I gathered from the reading is that Atkeson and Ohanian (2001) constructed what they called a “naive model” from the short-run Phillips curve. To construct the model, they regressed the four-quarter change in inflation and used the most recent regression equation to construct the forecasted inflation level over the following four quarters. The two authors concluded that this “naive model” claims that the unemployment rate has leads to no indication as to the future inflation rate because the level of unemployment changed constantly as inflation rates may or may not have changed. Between 1984-1996, Atkeson adn Ohanian show that the “naive” forecasts are almost statistically identical to that used by the Federal Reserve. Essentially, they mention these shortcomings and say that at best, the Phillips curve should only be used to derive a rough estimate of the direction of change for the inflation rate.

]]> Comment on A Response to Lansing’s “Can the Phillips Curve Help Forecast Inflation?” by sgreenla http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/28/a-response-to-lansings-can-the-phillips-curve-help-forecast-inflation/#comment-12 sgreenla Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:00:53 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/28/a-response-to-lansings-can-the-phillips-curve-help-forecast-inflation/#comment-12 What information does the Phillips Curve provide that would help forecast inflation? I don't quite understand that from this reflection. What information does the Phillips Curve provide that would help forecast inflation? I don’t quite understand that from this reflection.

]]> Comment on A Response to Coddington’s “Keynesian economics: The search for first principles” by sgreenla http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/23/a-response-to-coddingtons-keynesian-economics-the-search-for-first-principles/#comment-10 sgreenla Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:29:20 +0000 http://bshapiro.umwblogs.org/2008/01/23/a-response-to-coddingtons-keynesian-economics-the-search-for-first-principles/#comment-10 Brandon, You might want to check out Billy's post on the same article: http://wswanson.umwblogs.org/2008/01/23/coddington-on-keynesian-economics/ Brandon, You might want to check out Billy’s post on the same article: http://wswanson.umwblogs.org/2008/01/23/coddington-on-keynesian-economics/

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