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Allan Meltzer: How He Underestimated His Own Contribution to the Modern Concept of a Central Bank

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  • Robert L. Hetzel

Abstract

In his great work A History of the Federal Reserve System, vol. 1, Allan Meltzer contended that monetary policymakers in the Depression simply ignored the quantity theoretic prescriptions that would have prevented contractionary monetary policy. Practically, he was arguing that the Fed should have accepted the responsibilities for economic stabilization now taken for granted with the modern concept of a central bank. In reality, decades of monetarist criticism had to pass before the Fed accepted both responsibility for the behavior of the price level and economic stabilization. In effect, Meltzer?s contention about the self-evident truth of quantity theory ideas ignored the monumental task that lay ahead for the monetarists.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert L. Hetzel, 2018. "Allan Meltzer: How He Underestimated His Own Contribution to the Modern Concept of a Central Bank," Working Paper 18-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedrwp:18-02
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milton Friedman & Anna J. Schwartz, 1963. "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie63-1, July.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226519999 is not listed on IDEAS
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    federal reserve system; central banks; monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions

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