Confidence, Credibility and Macroeconomic Policy

Confidence, Credibility and Macroeconomic Policyexplores the interaction between fiscal and monetary stabilization, producer and consumer confidence and expectations and the credibility of the government's financial policies. For a government's economic policies to succeed, they must gain and maintain economic credibility, which many governments are finding increasingly difficult. Confidence, Credibility and Macroeconomic Policyis divided into three sections. Part I is an overview of the inter-relationship between fiscal policy and credibility and inflation. In addition, there are two pioneering studies that explore the effects of macroeconomic policies on expectations. Part II focuses on empirical research and presents historical as well as contemporary evidence on the importance of public confidence and expectations to the success of fiscal and monetary policy. Part III examines the definitions and functions of consumer confidence as it is measured today.This section also includes a study of its role in the 1990s and theoretical frameworks that explicitly incorporate confidence in macroeconomic stabilization.