This book reconsiders the role of the Phillips curve in macroeconomic analysis in the first twenty years following the famous work by A. W. H. Phillips, after whom it is named. It argues that the story conventionally told is entirely misleading. In that story, Phillips made a great breakthrough but his work led to a view that inflationary policy could be used systematically to maintain low unemployment, and that it was only after the work of Milton Friedman and Edmund Phelps about a decade after Phillips' that this view was rejected. On the contrary, a detailed analysis of the literature of the times shows that the idea of a negative relation between wage change and unemployment - supposedly Phillips' discovery - was commonplace in the 1950s, as were the arguments attributed to Friedman and Phelps by the conventional story. And, perhaps most importantly, there is scarcely any sign of the idea of the inflation-unemployment tradeoff promoting inflationary policy, either in the theoretical literature or in actual policymaking. The book demonstrates and identifies a number of main strands of the actual thinking of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s on the question of the determination of inflation and its relation to other variables. The result is not only a rejection of the Phillips curve story as it has been told, and a reassessment of the understanding of the economists of those years of macroeconomics, but also the construction of an alternative, and historically more authentic account, of the economic theory of those times. A notable outcome is that the economic theory of the time was not nearly so naïve as it has been portrayed.

We provide a robustness check of the US Phillips curve in the frequency domain. We design frequency-specific coeffcients of correlation (FSCC) and regression (FSCR), based on our frequency-specific data extraction procedure. Being real-valued, signed and normalised, the FSCC is superior to traditional indicators such as coherence and cospectrum. Our FSCC and FSCR estimates suggest that the Phillips tradeoffs vary greatly across frequencies, with frequent sign reversals. They seem to be stable in higher frequencies, but unstable in low and medium frequencies, and they are sensitive to the level and boundaries of frequency aggregation, to the way data are processed prior to analysis (eg detrending) and to the type of variables used. In this sense, the Phillips curves are fragile. The impact of potential cross-frequency model inconsistency on model estimation using conventional time domain methods needs careful scrutiny.

This handbook explains the development and implementation of monetary policy. It examines theories and issues related to the preservation of economic activity and explores why the preservation of economic stability is a principal goal of public policy.

The European Union (EU) has undergone remarkable change in the last century, from frequent conflicts in the first part of the last century, to peace, stability and unprecedented prosperity in the second half. As we move into the first half of the twenty-first century, there is also a sense that a fragile economic renaissance is underway in the EU, but one that is fraught with challenges and difficulties. Contrary to many of the vociferous critics of the single currency project (mostly US economists and some UK politicians, most notably Thatcher (2002), to date the project has met with remarkable success, despite the dramatic fall in the euro from its launch date and the strains imposed on EU economies following the recent downturn in the world economy. EU Enlargement has now been successfully completed, and although there have been painful discussions on EU institutional reform to accommodate the expansion, a breakdown in the 2005 budget negotiations and an controversy over the implementation of the Stability and Growth pact, it is likely that this will not impede the addition of new Member States from the east.

Ideally suited to upper-undergraduate and graduate students, Analyzing the Global Political Economy critically assesses the convergence between IPE, comparative political economy, and economics. Andrew Walter and Gautam Sen show that a careful engagement with economics is essential for understanding both contemporary IPE and for analyzing the global political economy. The authors also argue that the deployment of more advanced economic theories should not detract from the continuing importance for IPE of key concepts from political science and international relations. IPE students with little or no background in economics will therefore find this book useful, and economics students interested in political economy will be alerted to the comparative strengths of political science and other social science disciplines. A concise look at the foundations of analysis in the political economy of global trade, money, finance, and investment Suitable for upper-undergraduate and graduate students with some or no economic background Techniques and findings from a range of academic disciplines, including international relations, political science, economics, sociology, and history Further reading and useful weblinks including a range of relevant data sources, listed in each chapter

This is a biography of Bill Phillips, famous economist and inventor. His early life was a search for adventure across the world in the 1930s and 1940s. His later economic focus was about how to make struggling economies work better. He was very practical, yet unconventional and a genius. He built a famous water machine of the economy, showed economists how to model by computer, and became world famous for the Phillips Curve, a basis for monetary policy today.