Scott Sumner on What Milton Friedman Would Think of Monetary Policy Today

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to discuss Milton Friedman's views and what he might say about some of the recent developments in monetary policy. Specifically, Scott and David talk about nominal interest rates as indicators of the stance of monetary policy, fiscal austerity as means of reducing excessive aggregate demand, Friedman’s critique of the Phillips curve and wage and price controls, what Friedman might have said about the recent inflation numbers, and much more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Scott’s automated Twitter: @MoneyIllusion

Scott’s blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/

Scott’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner

Related Links:

*Friedman's Smashing Success­­* by Scott Sumner

https://www.econlib.org/friedmans-smashing-success/

*Inflation is a Nominal Phenomenon* by Scott Sumner

https://www.econlib.org/inflation-is-a-nominal-phenomenon/

*The Role of Monetary Policy* (1968) by Milton Friedman

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-24002-9_11

*What Would Milton Friedman Have Thought of Market Monetarism?* by Scott Sumner

https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704324.001.0001/acprof-9780198704324-chapter-15

David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth