Authors
Abstract
This paper describes interactions between monetary and fiscal policies that affect equilibrium price levels and interest rates by critically surveying theories about (a) optimal anticipated inflation, (b) optimal unanticipated inflation, and (c) conditions that secure a "nominal anchor" in the sense of a unique price level path. We contrast incomplete theories whose inputs are budget-feasible _sequences_ of government issued bonds and money with complete theories whose inputs are bond-money _strategies_ described as sequences of functions that map time _t_ histories into time _t_ government actions. We cite historical episodes that conform the theoretical insight that lines of authority between a Treasury and a Central Bank can be ambiguous, obscure, and fragile.