Rational Expectations: Retrospect and Prospect A Panel Discussion with Michael Lovell Robert Lucas Dale Mortensen Robert Shiller Neil Wallace Moderated by Kevin Hoover Warren Young CHOPE Working Paper No. 2011-10 30 May 2011 Rational Expectations: Retrospect and Prospect A Panel Discussion with Michael Lovell Robert Lucas Dale Mortensen Robert Shiller Neil Wallace Moderated by Kevin Hoover † Warren Young * 30 May 2011 †Department of Economics and Department of Philosophy, Duke University. Address: Box 90097, Durham, NC 27278, U.S.A. E-mail
[email protected] *Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University. Address: Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel. E-mail:
[email protected] 1 Abstract of Rational Expectations: Retrospect and Prospect The transcript of a panel discussion marking the fiftieth anniversary of John Muth’s “Rational Expectations and the Theory of Price Movements” ( Econometrica 1961). The panel consists of Michael Lovell, Robert Lucas, Dale Mortensen, Robert Shiller, and Neil Wallace. The discussion is moderated by Kevin Hoover and Warren Young. The panel touches on a wide variety of issues related to the rational-expectations hypothesis, including: its history, starting with Muth’s work at Carnegie Tech; its methodological role; applications to policy; its relationship to behavioral economics; its role in the recent financial crisis; and its likely future. JEL Codes: B22, B31, B26, E17 Keywords: rational expectations, John F. Muth, macroeconomics, dynamics, macroeconomic policy, behavioral economics, efficient markets 2 “Rational Expectations” 28 May 2011 Rational Expectations: Retrospect and Prospect: A Panel Discussion with Michael Lovell, Robert Lucas, Dale Mortensen, Robert Shiller and Neil Wallace, Moderated by Kevin Hoover and Warren Young The panel discussion was held in a session sponsored by the History of Economics Society at the Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) meetings in the Capitol 1 Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver, Colorado on 7 January 2011.