Money and Monetary Policy

This book examines the main points of disagreement between economists Milton Friedman and Paul Davidson regarding the role of money and the conduct of their monetary policies. The starting point for this analysis is the fascinating debate between the authors that took place in the early 1970s over the theoretical framework developed by Friedman, which promised to settle once and for all any conflict between classical and 'Keynesian' economists. Although the monetarist's aim was to eliminate these differences, they became even more evident as a result of the direct debate between the authors, making it clear that consensus between them along the lines presented by the debate would not be possible. In this sense, the book proposes an alternative method for resolving this 'dispute' by presenting Sheila Dow's argument, which suggests that the differences between the economists are the result of their different methodological positions, which implicitly reflect the authors' different "worldviews". These methodological differences are therefore the key to understanding how Friedman and Davidson were able to achieve such contrasting results on money.