货币主义

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经济学中的一个学派,主张货币供给是经济活动的主要决定因素。弗里德曼和他的同伴们认为货币主义是一种宏观经济理论和政策,与先前占主导地位的凯因斯学派(参阅Keynes, John Maynard)大不相同。他们的理论在1970年代和1980年代早期影响深远。货币主义认为货币储备的变化会对生产、就业和价格水准造成直接影响,虽然其影响的时期很长、情况也不稳定。货币主义者的基本提议是不提倡倾向於「货币政策」的经济政策。弗里德曼和其他学者认为诸如税收政策的变化或增加政府支出等货币政策无法对经济周期造成很好的作用。政府干预经济的活动应当限制在一定范围内,因为经济自身的调节会在政府政策生效前起到自动调节的作用。他们还认为,货币供应的逐渐稳步提升是经济在低通货状况下稳定成长的最佳保证。美国在1980年代的经济活动对货币主义产生了怀疑,而新的银行存款方式的出现使货币主义难以计算实际的货币供给。

monetarism

School of economic thought that maintains that the money supply is the chief determinant of economic activity. Milton Friedman and his followers promoted monetarism as an alternative to Keynesian economics (see John Maynard Keynes); their economic theories became influential in the 1970s and early 1980s. Monetarism holds that a change in the money supply directly affects and determines production, employment, and price levels, though its influence is evident only over a long and often variable period of time. Fundamental to the monetarist approach is the rejection of fiscal policy in favor of “monetary rule.” Friedman and others asserted that fiscal measures such as tax-policy changes or increased government spending have little significant effect on the fluctuations of the business cycle. They argued that government intervention in the economy should be kept to a minimum and asserted that economic conditions would change before specific policy measures designed to address them could take effect. Steady, moderate growth of the money supply, in their view, offered the best hope of assuring a constant rate of economic growth with low inflation. U.S. economic performance in the 1980s cast doubts on monetarism, and the proliferation of new types of bank deposits made it difficult to calculate the money supply.