Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Phillips curve is alive and well...

...at the Federal Reserve.

Ben Bernanke gave a talk on inflation expectations and inflation forecasting at the NBER monetary economics summer institute this afternoon. Ben included about a dozen references to the Phillips curve--an economic concept you would not hear his predecessor talk much about.

The event was, by the way, the first NBER meeting in my memory that involved TV cameras and the Secret Service.

Addendum:The RTE blog says that my Harvard colleague Ben Friedman, who opposes inflation targeting, will, on the behest of Barney Frank, testify on Capitol Hill next week in advance of Ben Bernanke's testimony.