Finishing the Inflation Job and New Challenges for Monetary Policy

Overview

How should the Fed finish the job of reducing inflation, and prepare for "shocks" ahead such as tariffs, the status of the dollar, and the nature of international cooperation? The 2025 Hoover Institution Monetary Policy Conference explored the challenges for central banks looking ahead. The United States is "experiencing an avalanche of uncertainty," with everything about the international order in question, including America's role in it.

Organized into eight sections, Finishing the Inflation Job and New Challenges in Monetary Policy presents the conference proceedings, bringing together scholarly contributions from academics, policymakers, and others to consider big-picture issues that affect monetary policy on a global scale.

This year's conference followed an event celebrating the life and career of John B. Taylor. This spirit of celebration carries forward in many essays that note the influence of Taylor and the Taylor rule on policymaking. Authors examine current issues in finance and the regulation of cryptocurrency, the growing role of private credit, and how the history of the price stability objective reverberates in the present day.

Reviews

“Hoover’s monetary conferences help crystalize central debates in the field, and the papers in this year’s volume offer an important guide for policymakers, academics, journalists, and others trying to understand what has broken and how to move forward.” 
—Joseph C. Sternberg, columnist, The Wall Street Journal

“At a time when the Fed and its mandate are under intense scrutiny, Finishing the Inflation Job could not be more timely. . . . The contributions here will do much to inform ongoing discussions.” 
—Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor, Departments of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

“Conventional policymaking confronts new shocks and old challenges, while many economists have diminished confidence in traditional models. Assembling diverse expert viewpoints on the current unprecedented challenges, the Hoover Institution moves ahead of the curve.” 
—Robert G. King, professor of economics, Boston University

“With the challenge of how to get inflation back to target in a timely fashion still unsolved, this work should provide a lasting point of reference for not only practitioners but also anyone interested in the craft.” 
—Pedro da Costa, head of policy for the Americas, MNI Market News

Author Biography

Michael D. Bordo is the Duncan Stewart Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution; and a Board of Governors Professor of Economics and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial History at Rutgers University.

John H. Cochrane is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.

John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution; and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics and director of the Introductory Economics Center at Stanford University