Explaining the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level

Public
Creator Series Issue number
  • Vol. 23, No. 4
Date created
  • 1999 Fall
Abstract
  • Many traditional macroeconomic models do not have determinate predictions for the path of inflation: even for a given specification of money supplies, many paths of inflation are consistent with equilibrium. According to the fiscal theory of the price level, fiscal policy can be used to select which of these many paths actually occur. This article explains the fiscal theory of the price level and discusses its empirical and policy implications. The article argues that the theory is equivalent to giving the government an ability to choose among equilibria.

Corporate Author
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Research Department
Publisher
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Resource type DOI
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