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Monetary Aggregates as Targets: Some Theoretical Aspects

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  • Charles Freedman

Abstract

In the mid-1970s the Bank of Canada, along with a number of other central banks, began to set explicit targets for monetary growth and to emphasize the long-run role of monetary aggregates in controlling the rapid upward trend of prices. There are three distinct ways of viewing and interpreting a policy of setting growth targets for monetary aggregates. The first is associated with the work of William Poole, the second is derived from the reduced-form model initially developed at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the third, which the author has labeled the feedback- rule approach, is related to the techniques developed within central banks to implement the policy of monetary targeting. In this paper the author sets forth the logic and examines the implications of these three methods when the principal aim of policy is reducing the rate of inflation. He also examines the question of gradualist versus "cold-shower" policies and the criteria for selecting a monetary aggregate as a policy target.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Freedman, 1981. "Monetary Aggregates as Targets: Some Theoretical Aspects," NBER Working Papers 0775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0775
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    Cited by:

    1. Freedman, Charles, 1990. "La politique monétaire des années 90 : leçons et enjeux," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 66(2), pages 147-186, juin.
    2. David Laidler, 2003. "Monetary Policy without Money: Hamlet without the Ghost," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20037, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    3. David Laidler, 1999. "The Quantity of Money and Monetary Policy," Staff Working Papers 99-5, Bank of Canada.
    4. Belhadj, ARAM & Bouguezzi, WAJDI & Jedlane, NABIL, 2009. "A Common Monetary Policy For The Maghreb: The Winners and The Losers?," MPRA Paper 29701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Charles Freedman, 1981. "Some Theoretical Aspects of Base Control," NBER Working Papers 0650, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Victor Argy & Anthony Brennan & Glenn Stevens, 1990. "Monetary Targeting: The International Experience," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 66(1), pages 37-62, March.

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