New Challenges for Monetary Policy: A Symposium Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 26-28, 1999

by Alan Greenspan

After two decades of successfully restoring price stability in much of the world economy, central banks begin the next millennium facing a new set of challenges. One key task is how to conduct monetary policy in an era of price stability. Clearly, policy-makers would like inflation to remain subdued. But, how should monetary policy procedures be designed to ensure that inflation does not reappear as a serious policy problem? Another important question is whether central banks enjoy greater operational flexibility or face new constraints in an environment of low inflation. On the one hand, operating in a low-inflation environment may give central banks greater leeway to address short-run economic problems without compromising long-run price stability. On the other hand, monetary policy implementation may become more difficult as nominal interest rates approach zero. Recent crises in financial markets around the world pose an additional set of challenges for policy-makers. Indeed, preserving global financial stability and dealing with extreme asset price and exchange rate movements have taken on greater urgency in many recent policy discussions.

Genres: Economics

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He worked as a private adviser and provided consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC.
First nominated to the Federal Reserve by President Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring on January 31, 2006, after the second-longest tenure in the position, behind only William McChesney Martin. President George W. Bush appointed Ben S. Bernanke as his successor. Greenspan came to the Federal Reserve Board from a consulting career. Although he was subdued in his public appearances, favorable media coverage raised his profile to a point that several observers likened him to a "rock star". Democratic leaders of Congress criticized him for politicizing his office because of his support for Social Security privatization and tax cuts.
Many have argued that the "easy-money" policies of the Fed during Greenspan's tenure, including the practice known as the "Greenspan put", were a leading cause of the dot-com bubble and subprime mortgage crisis (the latter occurring within a year of his leaving the Fed), which, said The Wall Street Journal, "tarnished his reputation". Yale economist Robert J. Shiller argues that "once stocks fell, real estate became the primary outlet for the speculative frenzy that the stock market had unleashed". Greenspan argues that the housing bubble was not a result of low-interest short-term rates but rather a worldwide phenomenon caused by the progressive decline in long-term interest rates – a direct consequence of the relationship between high savings rates in the developing world and its inverse in the developed world.