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Professor Russell’s research interests are in macroeconomics and monetary economics. Macroeconomics studies how the levels of important economic indicators such as the inflation rate, the real GDP growth rate, the prime interest rate, and the unemployment rate get determined. Monetary economics studies the role of money in the economy and how government policy about money and credit can affect these economic indicators. Professor Russell is especially interested in the question of whether changes in monetary policy can have large, long run effects on our incomes and living standards.
In the United States, monetary policy is conducted by the Federal Reserve System (FED), so a specific example of a question Professor Russell is interested in is whether a decision by the Fed to cut interest rates permanently could produce a permanent increase in the incomes of American workers. He is also very interested in the possibility that changes in the public’s expectations about prices and interest rates may be an important cause of economic instability. Is it possible that prices and interest rates sometimes rise or fall simply because the public expects them to fall, even though nothing else in the economy has forced them to change?
Selected Publications:
- “Monetary Policy Arithmetic: Reconciling Theory with Evidence,”
(co-author: Maxim Nikitin) Canadian Journal of Economics vol. 39:348-374,
February 2006.
- “The Role of Money in Two Alternative Models: When is the Friedman
Rule Optimal, and Why?,”(coauthors Bhattacharya, Iowa State and Haslag,
University of Missouri-Columbia) Journal of Monetary Economics vol.
52:1401-1433, November 2005.
- “Analyzing Workplace Safety Policies in Hong Kong with a Simulation,”
(coauthered with Robert Sandy and Xiangdon Wei [Department of Economics,
Lingnan University]) International Economic Journal June 2005.
- “The Zilcha Criterion for Dynamic Inefficiency,” (coauthored with
Peter Rangazas) Economic Theory vol. 26: 701-716, October 2005.
- “Two-Period Cycles in a Three-Period Overlapping Generations Model.”
with Joydeep Bhattacharya, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 109,
378-401, May, 2003.
- “Quasi-Fundamental Exchange Rate Variation,” Economic Theory,
Vol. 22, 111-140, August, 2003.
- “Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and the Inflation Tax: Equivalence
Results,” with Joydeep Bhattacharya and Joseph Haslag, Macroeconomic
Dynamics, Vol. 7, No. 5, November, 2003.
- “Are There Optimal Multiple-Reserve Requirements,” with Marco
Espinosa, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Vol. 10, 85-104, February
2001.
- “An Empirically Plausible Model of Low Real Interest Rates and Unbacked
Government Debt,” with James Bullard, Journal of Monetary Economics,
Vol. 44, 477-508, December 1999.
- “Can Higher Inflation Reduce Real Interest Rates in the Long Run?”
with Marco Espinosa, Canadian Journal of Economics, February 1998.
- “'Quasi-Fundamental' Variation in the Price Level and the Inflation
Rate,” Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 74, 106-151, May 1997.
- “Optimal Reserve Requirements, Deposit Taxation, and the Demand for
Money,” with Alex Mourmouras, Journal of Monetary Economics,
Vol. 30, 129-142, August 1992.
- “Bank Regulation as an Antidote to Price Level Instability: A 'Real
Bills' Model that Yields 'Quantity Theory' Prescriptions,” with Alex
Mourmouras, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 29, 125-150, February
1992.
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