History of Monetary Policy

The podcast episode delves into the history of monetary policy, starting from Diocletian in Rome and discussing the challenges faced by governments due to fiscal pressures and currency debasement. It explores the concept of price control and the relationship between unemployment and wage inflation discovered by Bill Phillips. It also touches on the limitations of using monetary policy to manipulate the unemployment rate and the role of other factors like labor market policy. The episode mentions the New Zealand government's attempts in the late 1990s to regulate wages and prices, similar to the policies implemented by Richard Nixon in the US years earlier.