DID MACROECONOMIC POLICIES STABILIZE THE AUSTRIAN ECONOMY? AN OPTIMUM CONTROL APPROACH

摘要

The question whether monetary and fiscal policies have contributed to reducing business cycle fluctuations in Austria during the eighties is investigated. A small macroeconometric model of the Austrian economy is used to relate the main objectives of Austrian economic policies to monetary and fiscal policy instruments. The results of actual policies are compared to those obtained from implementing "fixed rules" and to those delivered as optimal by optimum control experiments. It is shown that actual policies did worse than optimal ones but better than "fixed rules" within the framework of the econometric model used.