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Getting Off TrackHow Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisisby John B. TaylorAN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WHAT WENT WRONGThroughout history, financial crises have always been caused by excesses—frequently monetary excesses—which lead to a boom and an inevitable bust. In our current crisis it was a housing boom and bust that in turn led to financial turmoil in the United States and other countries. How did everything deteriorate so suddenly and dramatically? In Getting Off Track: How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis, Hoover fellow and Stanford economist John B. Taylor offers empirical research to explain what caused the current financial crisis, what prolonged it, and what worsened it dramatically more than a year after it began. The author tells how unusually easy monetary policy helped set the crisis in motion, as interest rates at the Federal Reserve and several other central banks deviated from historical regularities. He explains monetary interaction with the subprime mortgage problem, showing how the use of these mortgages, especially the adjustable-rate variety, led to excessive risk taking. In the United States this was encouraged by government programs designed to promote home ownership, a worthwhile goal but overdone in retrospect. Looking ahead, the author suggests a set of principles to follow to prevent misguided actions and interventions in the future. Reviews Here are some reviews of Getting Off Track: Taylor Rules – Forbes Hoover Institution Press; 1 New edition (February 25, 2009) |
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Global Financial WarriorsThe Untold Story of International Finance in the Post-9/11 Worldby John B. Taylor"A valuable insider’s account of financial diplomacy in the Bush administration."—Jeffrey E. Garten, Washington PostSworn in as head of the U.S. Treasury Department’s international finance division just three months prior to 9/11, John B. Taylor soon found himself at the center of the war on terror. Global Financial Warriors takes you inside the White House Situation Room, to the meetings of the G7 finance ministers, and to cities worldwide as Taylor assembles a coalition to freeze terrorist assets, plans the financial reconstruction in Afghanistan, oversees the development of a new currency in Iraq, and deals with the spread of financial crises. From reforming the IMF and the World Bank to negotiating international agreements to reduce Iraq’s debt by 80 percent and cancel the debt of very poor countries, Taylor’s unparalleled access offers the reader an insider’s account of a pivotal time in international finance. W.W. Norton & Co.; illustrated edition (January 17, 2008) |
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Inflation, Unemployment, and Monetary Policy(Alvin Hansen Symposium Series on Public Policy)by Robert M. Solow, John B. Taylor, Benjamin M. FriedmanThe connection between price inflation and real economic activity has been a focus of macroeconomic research—and debate—for much of the past century. Although this connection is crucial to our understanding of what monetary policy can and cannot accomplish, opinions about its basic properties have swung widely over the years. Today, virtually everyone studying monetary policy acknowledges that, contrary to what many modern macroeconomic models suggest, central bank actions often affect both inflation and measures of real economic activity, such as output, unemployment, and incomes. But the nature and magnitude of these effects are not yet understood. In this volume, Robert M. Solow and John B. Taylor present their views on the dilemmas facing U.S. monetary policymakers. The discussants are Benjamin M. Friedman, James K. Galbraith, N. Gregory Mankiw, and William Poole. The aim of this lively exchange of views is to make both an intellectual contribution to macroeconmics and a practical contribution to the solution of a public policy question of central importance.The MIT Press (January 30, 1999) |