IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rsq/wpaper/7-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The theory of economic policy: from a theory of control to a theory of conflict (resolutions)

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola acocella

    (Department of Methods and Models for Economics, Territory and Finance MEMOTEF, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy))

  • Giovanni Di Bartolomeo

    (Department of Economics and Law - Sapienza University of Roma (Italy))

  • Andrew Hughes Hallett

    (School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia, Usa)

Abstract

The theory of economic policy has its roots in the contributions of Tinbergen and Theil, who solved the problem of a policymaker aiming to achieve certain values for his policy targets, or to minimize a loss function defined on those targets, by using the available policy instruments. After Lucas raised the issue that the private sector could react to the policymaker’s decisions the theory developed by Tinbergen and Theil lost its appeal and most policy problems have been discussed in terms of policy games, thus introducing the possibility of conflicts among different players. The new theory of economic policies revisits the Tinbergen and Theil approach, by applying some concepts and tools introduced by them in order to develop a theory of conflicts, able to assert conditions under which policy neutrality, game equilibrium existence, and policy uniqueness or multiplicity appear.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola acocella & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo & Andrew Hughes Hallett, "undated". "The theory of economic policy: from a theory of control to a theory of conflict (resolutions)," Working Papers 91/11, Sapienza University of Rome, Metodi e Modelli per l'Economia, il Territorio e la Finanza MEMOTEF.
    • Handle: RePEc:rsq:wpaper:7/11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://web.uniroma1.it/memotef/sites/default/files/wpapers/documenti/FullTextWP91.pdf
    File Function: December 2011
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco Lippi, 2003. "Strategic Monetary Policy with Non-Atomistic Wage Setters," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(4), pages 909-919.
    2. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    3. Fabrizio Coricelli & Alex Cukierman & Alberto Dalmazzo, 2006. "Monetary Institutions, Monopolistic Competition, Unionized Labor Markets and Economic Performance," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 39-63, March.
    4. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Hallett, Andrew Hughes, 2007. "Dynamic Controllability With Overlapping Targets: Or Why Target Independence May Not Be Good For You," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 202-213, April.
    5. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni, 2004. "Non-neutrality of monetary policy in policy games," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 695-707, September.
    6. Athanasios Orphanides & John C. Williams, 2002. "Robust Monetary Policy Rules with Unknown Natural Rates," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 33(2), pages 63-146.
    7. Jordi Galí, 2008. "Introduction to Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework," Introductory Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework, Princeton University Press.
    8. Acocella, Nicola & Ciccarone, Giuseppe, 1997. "Trade Unions, Nonneutrality and Stagflation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 161-178, April.
    9. Acocella, N. & Di Bartolomeo, G., 2006. "Tinbergen and Theil meet Nash: Controllability in policy games," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 213-218, February.
    10. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Piacquadio, Paolo G., 2009. "Conflict of interests, (implicit) coalitions and Nash policy games," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 303-305, December.
    11. Hughes Hallett Andrew & Acocella Nicola & Di Bartolomeo Giovanni, 2012. "Expectations Dynamics: Policy, Announcements and Limits to Dynamic Inconsistency," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-25, April.
    12. Sargent, Thomas J & Wallace, Neil, 1975. ""Rational" Expectations, the Optimal Monetary Instrument, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(2), pages 241-254, April.
    13. Christian Merkl, 2008. "Galí J: Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 179-181, November.
    14. Richard Bellman, 1957. "On a Dynamic Programming Approach to the Caterer Problem--I," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 270-278, April.
    15. Petit,Maria Luisa, 2009. "Control Theory and Dynamic Games in Economic Policy Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521127158.
    16. Beetsma,R. & Favero,C. & Missale,A. & Muscatelli,V. A. & Natale,P. & Tirelli,P. (ed.), 2004. "Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policies and Labour Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521823081.
    17. Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Hughes Hallett, Andrew & Acocella, Nicola, 2011. "Tinbergen controllability and n-player LQ-games," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 32-34, October.
    18. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1977. "Rules Rather Than Discretion: The Inconsistency of Optimal Plans," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 473-491, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Candela, Guido & Castellani, Massimiliano & Mussoni, Maurizio, 2012. "Clashes and compromises: Investment policies in tourism destinations," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-25.
    2. Gonzalez-Martinez, Ana Rosa & Jongeneel, Roel & Kros, Hans & Lesschen, Jan Peter & de Vries, Marion & Reijs, Joan & Verhoog, David, 2021. "Aligning agricultural production and environmental regulation: An integrated assessment of the Netherlands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni, 2007. "Towards a new theory of economic policy: Continuity and innovation," MPRA Paper 4419, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2005. "Non-neutrality of economic policy: An application of the Tinbergen-Theil's approach to a strategic context," Working Papers in Public Economics 82, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    3. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni, 2008. "The Emerging New Theory of Economic Policy," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 61(2-3), pages 135-150.
    4. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Hibbs Jr., Douglas A., 2008. "Labor market regimes and the effects of monetary policy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 134-156, March.
    5. N. Acocella & G. Bartolomeo & Andrew Hallett, 2006. "Controllability in Policy Games: Policy Neutrality and the Theory of Economic Policy Revisited," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 91-112, September.
    6. Cuciniello, Vincenzo, 2007. "Strategic monetary policy in a monetary union with non-atomistic wage setters," MPRA Paper 3789, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2007.
    7. Cuciniello Vincenzo, 2007. "Optimal monetary policy in a monetary union with non-atomistic wage setters," wp.comunite 0014, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    8. Huiping Yuan & Stephen M. Miller, 2013. "Target Controllability and Time Consistency: Complement to the Tinbergen Rule," Working papers 2013-35, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    9. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Bartolomeo, 2013. "The Cost Of Social Pacts," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 238-255, July.
    10. Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2014. "Optimal Degree of Union Centralization," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 2(2), pages 201-211, December.
    11. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2005. "Controllability and non-neutrality of economic policy: The Tinbergen’s approach in a strategic context," Macroeconomics 0504034, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Cukierman, Alex, 2008. "Central bank independence and monetary policymaking institutions -- Past, present and future," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 722-736, December.
    13. Vincenzo Cuciniello, 2007. "Optimal monetary policy under a floating regime with non-atomistic wage setters," IHEID Working Papers 12-2007, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    14. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2010. "Conflict of interest and coordination in public good provision," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 389-408.
    15. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2005. "Back to Keynes?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 51(4), pages 777-822.
    16. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2002. "Sindacati, non neutralitˆ della moneta e giochi di politica economica," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 55(219), pages 263-277.
    17. Hughes Hallett Andrew & Acocella Nicola & Di Bartolomeo Giovanni, 2012. "Expectations Dynamics: Policy, Announcements and Limits to Dynamic Inconsistency," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-25, April.
    18. Giovanni Di Bartolomeo & Nicola Acocella & Wilfried Pauwels, 2004. "Is There any Scope for Corporatism in Stabilization Policies?," Working Papers 2009.154, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    19. Nicola Acocella & Giovanni Bartolomeo, 2004. "Is a Conservative Central Banker a (Perfect) Substitute for Wage Coordination?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 281-294, June.
    20. Di Bartolomeo Giovanni & Hughes Hallett Andrew & Acocella Nicola, 2013. "When Can Policy Makers Anchor Expectations? Dynamic controllability and the limits to time inconsistency," wp.comunite 0104, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    controllability; conflict; policy games; policy neutrality; equilibrium existence; decentralization; centralization; rational expectations; time inconsistency.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rsq:wpaper:7/11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Arezzo Maria Felice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dmrosit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.