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‘The Meaning of Internal Balance’ Thirty Years On

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  • Charles Bean

Abstract

In his Nobel Prize lecture, Meade advocated allocating demand management policies to pursuing price stability, reformed wage‐fixing institutions to achieving full employment and foreign exchange policies to maintaining balance‐of‐payments equilibrium. But with respect to the first, he advocated a target for nominal income rather than the price level. I evaluate Meade's programme with the benefit of hindsight and in the light of experience with inflation targets. I also discuss some of the issues associated with the application of flexible inflation targets, as well as the extent to which financial stability considerations should affect the conduct of monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Bean, 2009. "‘The Meaning of Internal Balance’ Thirty Years On," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(541), pages 442-460, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:119:y:2009:i:541:p:f442-f460
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02315.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Mitra, Kaushik & Honkapohja, Seppo, 2014. "Targeting nominal GDP or prices: Guidance and expectation dynamics," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 4/2014, Bank of Finland.
    2. Keshab Bhattarai, 2015. "Financial deepening and economic growth," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(11), pages 1133-1150, March.
    3. Charles R. Bean, 2019. "A Review Essay: David Kynaston's Till Time's Last Sand: A History of the Bank of England, 1694–2013," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(4), pages 972-987, December.
    4. Seppo Honkapohja, 2016. "Monetary policies to counter the zero interest rate: an overview of research," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 43(2), pages 235-256, May.
    5. Bhattarai, Keshab, 2014. "Money and economic growth," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 8-18.
    6. Keshab Bhattarai, 2015. "Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Advanced and Emerging Economies," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 178-195, February.
    7. Seppo Honkapohja & Kaushik Mitra, 2015. "Comparing Inflation and Price-Level Targeting: The Role of Forward Guidance and Transparency," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83, pages 27-59, December.
    8. Buckle, Robert A., 2018. "A quarter of a century of fiscal responsibility: The origins and evolution of fiscal policy governance and institutional arrangements in New Zealand, 1994 to 2018," Working Paper Series 7693, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
    9. Salma Louati & Younes Boujelbene, 2020. "Inflation targeting and bank risk: The interacting effect of institutional quality," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1847889-184, January.
    10. Buckle, Robert A., 2018. "A quarter of a century of fiscal responsibility: The origins and evolution of fiscal policy governance and institutional arrangements in New Zealand, 1994 to 2018," Working Paper Series 20848, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.

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