NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Is the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level Learnable?

Bennett T. McCallum

NBER Working Paper No. 9961*
Issued in September 2003
NBER Program(s):   EFG    ME

This paper presents a prototype model for development of the fiscal theory of the price level.' In this simple setting, the fiscal theory's distinctiveness relies upon adoption of a bubble solution, rather than the rational-expectations fundamentals solution. The paper then shows that the fiscal solution is not adaptively learnable, by agents who estimate coefficients relevant for forecasting on the basis of available data, whereas the orthodox monetarist' solution exists and is learnable. Finally, it is argued that similar results should be expected to apply in models that are more general in various dimensions.

*Published: McCallum, Bennett T. "Is The Fiscal Theory Of The Price Level Learnable?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 2003, v50(5,Nov), 634-649.

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