January 2012 special supplemental issue contents
Tactics and Strategy in Monetary Policy:Benjamin Friedman's Thinking and the SwissNational Bank

by Stefan Gerlach^a and Thomas J. Jordan^b

Abstract

This paper reviews the tactics and strategy of monetary policy in Switzerland, using a selection of Benjamin Friedman's papers to organize the discussion, and starting in the early 1970s, when his academic papers started to appear in scholarly journals. The review focuses on the SNB's experience with monetary targets in 1975-99, the policy strategy adopted by the SNB in 2000, and the SNB's experiences during the financial crisis that started in August 2007. On many occasions, Benjamin Friedman's and the SNB's thinking converged, while on others, they diverged.

JEL Codes: E43, E53, E58.

 
Full article (PDF, 33 pages 279 kb)
Discussion by Lars E.O. Svensson

^a Central Bank of Ireland and CEPR 
^b Swiss National Bank and University of Berne