THE NEW CONSENSUS MACROECONOMICS: AN UNRELIABLE GUIDE FOR POLICY

This paper outlines the New Consensus Macroeconomics, and discusses three important aspects closely related to it: economic policy implications for both monetary and fiscal policies; we deal with the "natural rate of interest" from a number of perspectives, but most crucially we discuss how this concept is of central importance to the New Consensus Macroeconomics; we also discuss some of the issues and problems surrounding natural rate of interest, including what it is meant to represent, issues of uniqueness and what happens if the rate of interest is not equal to the natural rate. The central role of the Phillips' curve in the New Consensus Macroeconomics and the control of inflation is another aspect we deal with in this contribution. We offer a critique of the new Keynesian Phillips' curve, a critical focus of the New Consensus Macroeconomics.O artigo apresente o Novo Consenso Macroeconômico e discute três importantes aspectos relacionados a ele: as implicações de políticas fiscal e monetária; a importância do conceito de "taxa natural de juros" para o Novo Consenso Macroeconômico; e as conseqüências quando a taxa de juros difere da "taxa natural de juros". Ademais, o papel central da curva de Phillips no Novo Consenso Macroeconômico e o controle da inflação são outros aspectos a serem analisados. Nesse sentido, o artigo apresenta a crítica da curva de curva de Phillips novo keynesiana ao foco central do Novo Consenso Macroeconômico