ECONOMETRIC POEICY EVALUATION: A CRITIQUE

Robert E. Lucas, Jr.

1. Introduction
Tile fact that nominal prices and wages tend to rise more rapidly at tile peak
of the business cycle than they do in the trough has been well recognized from the
time when tile cycle was first perceived as a distinct phenomenon. The inference
that perinanent inflation will therefore induce a permanent economic high is no
doubt equally ancient, yet it is only recently that tltis notion lms undergone the
mysterious transformation from obvious fallacy to cornerstone of the theory of
economic policy.
This transformation did not arise from new developments in economic theo-
ry. On the contrary, as soon as Pbelps and others made the first serious attempts
to rationalize the apparent trade-off in modern tlteoretical terms, the zero-degree
homogeneity of delnand and supply functions was re-discovered in tltis new con-
text (as Friedman predicted it would be) and re-named the "natural rate hypothe-
sis". 1 It arose, instead, from the younger tradition of the econometric forecasting
models, and from the commitment on the part of a large fraction of economists
to the use of these models for quantitative policy evaluation. Titese models have
implied the existence of long-run unemployment-inflation trade-offs ever since
the "wage-price sectors" were first incorporated and they promise to do so in the
future although the "terms" of the trade-off continue to shift. 2
Tltis clear-cut conflict between two rightly respected traditions - theoreti-
cal and econometric - caught those of us who viewed the two as Itarmoniously
complementary quite by surprise. At first, it seemed that rite conflict might be
resolved by somewlmt fancier econometric footwork. On rite theoretical level,
one hears talk of a "disequilibrium dynamics" which will somehow make money
illusion respectable while going beyond the sterility of ~ tJ = k(p-pe). Without un-
derestimating the ingenuity of either econometricians or theorists, it seems to me
appropriate to entertain the possibility that reconciliation along both of these
lines will fail, and that one of these traditions is fnndamentally in error.
The thesis o f Ibis essay is tltat it is rite econometric tradition, or more pre-

Isee Phelps et at. [31], Phelps'eaxlier[30] and Friedman[13I.

?'The eaxliestwage-pricesector embodyingthe "trade-off" is (as fax as 1 know) in the 19.55versionof the
Klein-Goldbergermodel [19]. It has persisted,vdth minimalconceptualchange,into all currentgeneration
forecastingmodels. The subsequent shift of the "trade-off"relationshipto centerstagein policydiscussions
appearsdue primarilyto Phillips[32[ and Samuelsonand Solow [33].

19
cisely, tile "tl~eory of economic policy" based on this tradition, which is in need
of major revision. More particularly, 1 shall argue that the features which lead to
success in short-term forecasting are unrelated to quantitative policy evaluation,
that the major econometric models are (well) designed to perform /lie fonuer
task only, and that simulations using these models can, in principle, provide no
useful information as to the actual consequences of alteruative economic policies.
These contentions will be based not on deviations between estimated and "true"
structure prior to a policy change but on the deviations between the prior "true"
structure and the "true" structure prevailing afterwards.
Before turning to details, I should like to advance two disclaimers. First,as is
true with any technically difficult and novel area of science, econometric model
building is subject to a great deal of ill-informed and casual criticism. Thus mod-
els are condemned as being "too big" (with equal insight, I suppose one could
fault smaller models for being " t o o little"), tro messy, too simplistic (that is, not
messy enough), and, the ultimate blow, inferior to "naive" models. Surely the in-
creasing sophistication of the "naive" alternatives to the major forecasting models
is the highest of tributes to the remarkable success of the latter. I hope I can suc-
ceed in disassociating the criticism which follows from any denial of the very im-
portant advances in forecasting ability recorded by the econometric models, and
of the promise they offer for advancement of comparable importance in the fit-
ture.
One may well define a critique as a paper which does not fidly engage the
vanity of its author. In this spirit, let me offer a second disclaimer. There is little
in this essay which is not implicit (and perlmps to more discerning readers, expli-
cit) in Friedman [ I 1 ], Muth [291 and, still earlier, in Knight [211. For that mat-
ter, the criticisms I shall raise against currently popular applications of econome-
tric theory have, for the most part, been anticipated by the major original contri-
butors to that theory. 3 Nevertheless, the case for sustained inflation, based en-
tirely on econometric simulations, is attended now with a seriousness it has not
commanded for many decades. It may, therefore, be worthwhile to attempt to
trace this case back to its foundation, and then to examitle again file scientific ba-
sis of this foundation itself.

2. Tile Theory of Economic Policy

Virtually all quantitative macro-economic policy discussions today are con-
ducted within a theoretical framework which I shall call "the theory of economic
3See in parficulax Marschak's discussion in [251 (helpfully recalled to me by 1". D. Wallace) and Tinbetgen's
in [36], especially his discussion of "qualitative policy" in ch. 5, pp. 149-185.

20
policy",(following Tinbergen I35] ). Tile essentials of this framework are so wide-
ly known and subscribed to that it may be superfluous to devote space to their re-
view. On the other hand, since the main theme of this paper is the inadequacy of
this framework, it is probably best to have an explicit version before us.
One describes the economy in a time period t by a vector Yt of state varia-
bles, a vector x t ofexogeneous forcing variables, and a vector e t of independent
(through time), identically distributed random shocks. Tile motion of the econo-
my is determined by a difference equation

Yt+l = f(Yt'xt,et ) '

the distribution of e t, and a description of the temporal behavior of the forcing

variables, x t. The flmction f is taken to be fixed but not directly known; the
task of empiricists is then to estimate f. For practical purposes, one usually
thinks of estimating the values of a fixed parameter vector O, with

f(y,x,e) -- F(y,x,0,e)

and F being specified in advance.

Mathematically, the sequence { x t) of forcing vectors is regarded as being
"arbitrary" (that is, it is not characterized stochastically). Since the past x t Val-
ties are observed, this causes no difficulty in estimating 0, and in fact simplifies
tile theoretical estimation problem slightly. For forecasting, one is obliged to in-
sert forecasted x t values into F.
With knowledge of tile function F and 0, policy evaluation is a straight-
forward matter. A policy is viewed as a specification of present and future values
of some components of {x t }. With the otber components somehow specified,
the stochastic behavior of {Yt,xt,et ) from the present on is specified, and func-
tionals defined on this sequence are well-defined random variables, whose mo-
ments may be calcnlated theoretically or obtained by nmnerical simulation.
Sometimes, for example, one wishes to examine tile mean value of a hypothetical
"social objective function", such as

~. fltu(Yt,xt,et)
t=o
under alteruative policies. More usuaUy, one is interested in the "operating char-
acteristics" of the system under alteruative policies. Thus, in this standard con-
text, a "long-run Phillips curve" is simply a plot of average inflation - unemploy-

21
ment pairs under a range of hypothetical policies. 4
Since one calmot treat 0 as known in practice, the actual problem
of policy evaluation is s o m e w h a t m o r e complicated. The fact that 0 is esti-
mated from past sample values affects tile above moment calculations for small
samples; it also makes policies which promise to sharpen estimates of 0 relatively
more attractive. These considerations complicate without, I think, essentially al-
tering the theory of economic policy as sketched above.
Two features of this theoretical framework deserve special comment. The
first is file uneasy relationship between this theory of economic policy and tradi-
tional economic theory. Tile components of the vector-valued function F are
behavioral relationships - demand functions; tile role of theory may thus be
viewed as suggesting forms for F, or in Samuelson's terms, distributing zeros
throughout the Jacobian of F. This role for theory is decidedly seconclary: mi-
croeconomics shows surprising power to rationalize individual econometric rela-
.tionships in a variety of ways. More significantly, this micro-economic role for
theory abdicates the task of describing the aggregate behavior of the system en-
tirely to tile econometrician. Theorists suggest forms for consumption, invest-
lnent, price and wage setting fimctions separately; these suggestions, if useful, in-
fluence individual components of F. The aggregate behavior Of the system then
is whatever it is. 5 Surely this point of view (though I doubt if many would now
endorse it in so bald a form) accounts for the demise of traditional "business cy-
cle theory" and the widespread acceptance o f a Phillips "trade-off" in tile absence
of any aggregative theoretical model embodying such a relationship.
Secondly, one must emphasize the intimate link between short-term fore-
casting and long-term simulations within this standard frameworK. T.he variance
of short-term forecasts tends to zero with the variance of et; as the latter becomes
small, so also does the variance of estimated behavior of {Yt } conditional on hy-
pothetical policies { x t } . Thus forecasting accuracy in the short-run implies relia-
bility of long-term policy evaluation.

3. Adaptive Forecasting
There are many signs that practicing econometricians pay little more than
lip-service to the theory outlined in the preceding section. Tile most striking is
the indifference of econonletrie forecasters to data series prior to 1947. Within
the theory of economic policy, more observations always sharpen parameter esti-

4See, for example,de Meniland Enzler [6], Iiitsch [16] and llymans [17].
5The ill-fated Brooklngsmodelprojectwas probablythe ultimate expressionof this view.

22
mates and forecasts, and observations on "extreme" x t values particularly so;
yet even the readily available annual series from 1929-1946 are rarely used as a
check on tbe post-war fits,
A second sign is the frequent and frequently important refitting of econome-
tric relationships. The revisions of the wage-price sector now in progress are a
good example. 6 The continuously improving precision of the estimates of 0
within the fixed structure F, predicted by the theory, does not seem to be occur-
ring in practice.
Finally, and most su'ggestively, is the practice of using patterns in recent re-
siduals to revise intercept estimates for forecasting purposes. For example, if a
"run" of positive residuals (predicted less actual) arises in an equation in recent
periods, one revises the estimated intercept downward by their average amount.
This practice accounts, for example, for the superiority of~thr"actuaI Wharton
forecasts as compared to forecasts based on the published version of the model. 7
It should be emplmsized tlmt recounting these discrepancies between theory
and practice is not to be taken as criticism of econometric forecasters. Certainly
if new observations are better accounted for by new or modified equations, it
would be foolish to continue to forecast using the old relationships. The point is
simply that, econometrics textbooks not withstanding, current forecasting prac-
tice is not.conducted within the framework o f the theory o f economic policy, and
the tmquestioned success of the forecasters should not be construed as evidence
for the soundness or reliability of the stnlcture proposed in that theory.
An alternative structure to that underlying the theory o f economic policy
has recently been proposed (in [31 and [5]) by Cooley and Prescott. The struc-
ture is of interest in the present context, since optimal forecasting within it shares
many features with current forecasting practice as just described: Instead of
treating the parameter vector 0 as fixed, Cooley and Prescott view it as a random
variable following the random walk

Ot+l = Ot + ~ t + l '

where {~t } is a sequence of independent, identically distributed random variables.

Maximum likelihood forecasting under this alternative framework ("adap-
tive regression") resembles "exponential smooflling" on the observations, with
observations in the distant past receiving a small "weight" - very much as in

6See, for example, Gordon [14l.

7A good account of this and other ~spects of forecasting in theory and practice is p~vided by Klein [20]. A
fuller treatment is available in Evans and Klein [9].

23
usual econometric practice; similarly, recent forecast errors are used to adjust tile
estimates. Using both artificial data and economic time series, Cooley and Pres-
cott have shown (in [41 ) that adaptive methods have good short-term forecmting
properties when compared to even relatively sophisticated versions of the "fixed
0" regression model. As Klein and others have remarked, this advantage is slrared
by actual large-model forecasts (that is, model forecasts modified by the forecast-
er's judgment) over mechanical forecasts using the published versions of the mo-
del. 8
Cooley and Prescott fiave proposed adaptive regression as a normative fore-
casting method. I am using it here in a positive sense: as an idealized "model" of
the behavior of large-model forecasters. If the model is, as I believe, roughly .qc-
curate, it serves to reconcile the assertion that long-term policy evaluations based
on econometric models are meaningless with the acknowledgment tlmt the fore-
cast accuracy of these models is good and likely to become even better. Under the
adaptive structure, a small standard error of short-teml forecasts is consistent
with infinite variance of the long-term operating characteristics of the system.

4. Theoretical Considerations: General

To this point, I have argued simply that the standard, stable-parameter view
of econometric theory and quantitative policy evaluation appears not to match
several important characteristics of econometric practice, while an alternative
general structure, embodying stochastic parameter drift, matches these character-
istics very closely. This argument is, if accepted, sufficient to establish that the
"long-run" implications of current forecasting models are without content, and
that the short-term forecasting ability of these models provides no evidence of the
accuracy to be expected from simulations of hypothetical policy rules.
These points are, I think, important, but their implications for the future are
unclear. After all, the major econometric models are still in their first, highly suc-
cessful, decade. No one, surely, expected the initial parameterizations of these
models to stand forever, even under the most optimistic view of the stability of
the unknown, underlying structure. Perlmps the adaptive character of this early
stage of macro-economic forecasting is merely the initial groping for the true
structure which, however ignored in statistical theory, all practitioners knew to
be necessary. If so, the arguments of this paper are transitory debating points, ob-
solete soon after they are written down. Personally, I would not be sorry if this
were the case, but I do not believe it is. I shall try to explain why, beginning with
~eneralities, and then, in the following section, introducing examples.
See Klein [201.

24
 In section 2, we discussed an economy characterized by

Yt+l = F(Yt'xt'O'et)"

The function F and parameter vector 0 are derived from decision rules (demand
and supply functions) of agents in the economy, and these decisions are, theoreti-
cally, optimal given the situation in which each agent is placed. There is, as re-
marked above, no presumption that (F,0) will be easy to discover, but it i...Lthe
central assumption of the theory of economic policy that once they are (approxi-
mately) known, they will remain stable under arbitrary changes in the behavior
of the forcing sequence { xt}.
For example, suppose a reliable model (F,0) is in hand, and one wishes to
use it to assess the consequences of alternative monetary and fiscal policy rules
(choices of x0,xl,x 2 ..... where t = 0 is "now"). According to the theory of eco-
nomic policy, one then simulates the system under alteruativc policies (theoretical-
ly or mnnerieally) and compares outcomes by some criterion. For such compari-
sons to have any meaning, it is essential that the structure (F,0) not vary systema-
tically with the choice of { x t }.
Everythin E we know about dynamic economic theory indicates that this
presumption is unjustified. First, the individual decision problem: "find an opti-
mal decision rule when certain parameters (future prices, say) follow 'arbitrary'
paths" is simply not well fommlated. Only trivial problems in which agents can
safely ignore the future can be formulated under such a vague description o f mar-
ket constraints. Even to obtain the decision rules underlying (F,0) then, we have
to attribute to individuals some view of the behavior of the future values of varia-
bles of concern to them. This view, in conjunction with other factors, determines
their optimum decision rules. To assume stability of (F,0) under alternative poli-
cy rules is thus to assume that agents' views about the behavior of shocks to the
system are invariant under changes in the true behavior of these shocks. Without
this extreme assumption, the kinds of policy simulations called for by the theory
of economic policy are meaningless.
It is likely that the "drift" in 0 which the adaptive models describe stoch-
astically reflects, in part, the adaptation of the decision rules o f agents to the
changing character of the series they are trying to forecast. 9 Since this adapta-
tion will be in most (though not all) cases slow, one is not surprised that adaptive

9This is not to suggest that all parameter drift is due to this source. For example, shifts in production func'-
6ons due to technological change ate probably weU described by a random walk scheme.

25
methods can improve the short-term forecasting abilities of the econometric mo-
dels. For longer term forecasting and policy simulations, however, ignoring the
systematic sources of drift will lead to large, unpredictable errors.

5. Theoretical Considerations: Examples

If these general theoretical observations on the likelihood of systematic
"parametric drift" in the face of variations in the structure of shocks are correct,
it should be possible to confirm them by examination of the specific decision
problems underlying the major components of aggregative models. I shall discuss
in turn consumption, investment, and the wage-price sector, or Phillips curve. In
each case, the "right hand variables" will, for simplicity, be taken as "exogenous"
(as components of {x t }). The tllought-experiments matclfing this assumption,
and the adaptations necessary for simultaneous equations, are too well known to
require comment.

5.1 Consumption
The easiest example to discuss with confidence is the aggregate consumption
function since, due to Friedman [ 111, Muth [28] and Modigliani, Brumberg and
Ando [21, [27], it has both a sound theoretical rationale and an unusually high
degree of empirical success. Adopting Friedluan's formulation, permanent con-
sumption is proportional to permanent income (an estimate of a discounted
filture incolne stream),

(1) Cpt = k Ypt ;

actual consumption is

(2) c t = Cpt + u t ;

and actual, current income is

(3) Yt = Ypt + vt

Tile variables ut,v t are independent temporally and of each other and of Ypt"
An empirical "short-run" marginal propensity to consume is tile sample mo-
ment corresponding to Cov(ct,Yt)/Var(Yt), or
Var (Ypt)
k2var(Ypt) + Var(vt)

26
Now as long as these moments are viewed as subjective parameters in the heads of
consumers, this model lacks content. Friedman, however, viewed them as'true
moments, known to consumers, the logical step which led to the cross-sectional
tests which provided the most striking confirmation of his l~ermanent income hy-
pothesis. 10
This central equating of a true probability distribution and the subjective
distribution on which decisions are based was termed rational expectations by
Muth, who developed its implications more generally (in [29] ). In particular, in
[28], Muth found the stochastic behavior of income over time under which
Friedman's identification of permanent income as an exponentially weighted sum
of current and lagged observations on actual income was consistent with optimal
forecasting on the part of agents. 11
To review Muth's results, we begin by recalling that permanent income is
that constant flow Ypt which has the same value, with the subjective discount
factor /3, as the forecasted actual income stream:
oo

(4) Ypt = (I-{3) 2; /3iE(Yt+i]It)

i=o
where each expectation is conditioned on information I t available at t.
N o w let actual incolne Yt be a sum of three terms

(5) Yt = a + w t + v t ,

where v t is transitory income, ~ is a constant, and w t is a sum of independent

increments, each with zero mean and constant variance. Mutll showed that the
nlinimum variance estimator of Yt+i for all i = 1,2 .... is (l-X) .Z XJy~.j
where X depends in a known way on the relative variances of wtJa°nd vt .12

10Of course, the hypothesis continues to be tested as new data sources become available, and anomalies con-
tinue to arise. (For a recent example, see Mayer [26] ). Thus one may expect that, as with most "confirmed"
hypotheses, it will someday be subsumed in some more general formulation.
I l i a [12]~Friedman proposes an alternative view to Muth's, namely that the weight used ~ averaging past
incomes (A, below) is the same as the discount factor used in averaging future incomes (,if, below). It is
Muth's theory, rather than Friedman's of [12], which is consistent with the cross-section tests based on rela-
tive variances mentioned above.
12Let O~v be the variance of v t and ~ w be the variance of the increments of wt, then the relationship is

I °2Aw °Aw 1 °Aw

X= I +~--~---- °v 4 4

27
Inserting this estimator into (4) and summing the series gives the empirical con-
sumption function

(6) c t = ktl-/3)y t + k/3(1-X) . ~ XJyt_j + u t .

J=O

(This formula differs slightly from Muth's because Muth implicitly assumed that
c t was detenuined prior to realizing Yt" Tile difference is not important in the
seqnel.)
Now let us imagine a consumer of this type, with a current income genera-
ted by ~/n "experimenter" according to the pattern described by Muth (so that
the premises of the theory of economic policy are correct for a single equation
consumption function). An econometrician observing this consumer over many
periods will have good success describing him by (6) whether he arrives at this
equation by the Friedman-Muth reasoning, or simply hits on it by trial-and-error.
Next consider policies taking the form of a sequence of supplements { x t } to this
consumer's income from time T on. Whether { x t } is specified deterministically
or by some stochastic law, whether it is announced in advance to the consumer
or not, the theory of economic policy prescribes the same method for evahmting
its consequences: add x t to the forecasts of Yt for each t > T ' insert into (6),
and obtain the new forecasts of e t.
If the consumer knows of the policy change in advance, it is clear that this
standard method gives incorrect forecasts. For example, suppose the policy con-
sists of a constant increase, x t = ~', in income over the entire fiflure. From (4),
this leads to an increase in consnmption of k~'. The forecast based on (6), how-
ever, is of an effect in period t of

(Ac) t = k~ { (1-/3) + /~(I-X) .t~ xi }

1=0

Since this effect tends to tile correct forecast, k~, as t tends to infinity,
one might conjecture that the difficulty vanishes in the "long run". To see that
this conjecture is false, consider an exponentially growing supplement x t = ~a t,
1
1 < ct < ~ . The true effect in t-T is, from (1) and (4),

(1-/3)a t
(Ac)t = k~
l-a~

28
The effect as forecast by (6) is

t-T
(Ac) t = k ~ { (1-3) + /3(l-X) ~ (~ tl t .
j=o

Neither effect tends to zero, as t tends to infinity; the ratio (forecast over actual)
tends to

ap(l-X)
(1-a3){ 1 + (l-3)(a-~.) }

which may lie on either side of unity.

More interesting divergences between forecasts and reality emerge when the
policy is stochastic, but with characteristics known in advance. For example, let
{x t } be a sequence of independent random variables, with zero mean and con-
stant variance, distributed independently of ut,v t and w t. This policy amounts to
an increase in the variance of transitory income, lowering the weight X in a man-
ner given by tile Muth formula. Average consumption, in fact and as forecast by
(6), is not affected, but tile variance of consumption is. Tile correct estimate of
this variance effect requires revision of tile weight ?,; evidently tile standard,
fixed-parameter prediction based on (6) will again yield tile wrong answer, and
tlle error will not tend to vanish for large t.
The list of deterministic and stoclmstic policy changes, and their combina-
tion is inexhaustible but one need not proceed further to establish file point: for
a n y policy change which is understood in advance, extrapolation or simulation
based on (6) yields an incorrect forecast, and what is more, a correctibly incor-
rect forecast. What of changes in policy which are not understood in advance7
As Fisher observes, "the notion that one cannot fool all of the people all of the
time [need not] imply that one ca,mot fool all the people even some of the
time. ,'13
The observation is, if obvious, true enough; but it provides no support wirer-
ever for the standard forecasting method of extrapolating on the basis of (6). Our
knowledge of consumption belmvior is summarized in (1)-(4). For certain policy
changes we can, with some confidence, guess at the permanent income recalcula-
tions consumers will go through and hope to predict their consumption responses
13{101, p. 113.

29
with some accuracy. For other types of policies, particularly those involving de-
liberate "fooling" of consumers, it will not be at all clear how to apply (1)-(4),
and hence impossible to forecast. Obviously, in such cases, there is no reason to
imagine that forecasting with (6) will be accurate either.

5.2 Taxation and Investment Demand

In [15], Hall and Jorgenson provided quantitative estimates of the conse-
quences, current and lagged, of various tax policies oll the demand for producers'
durable equipment. Their work is an example of the current state of the art of
conditional forecasting at its best. The general method is to use econometric esti-
mates of a Jorgensonian investment function, which captures all of the relevant
tax structure in a single ilnplicit rental price variable, to simulate tile effects of al-
ternative tax policies.
An implicit assumption in this work is that any tax change is regarded as
a permanent, once-and-for-all change. Insofar as this assumption is false over tile
sample period, the econometric estimates are subject to bias. 14 More important
for this discussion, the conditional forecasts will be valid only for tax changes be-
lieved to be permanent by taxpaying corporations.
For many issues in public finance, this obvious qualification would properly
be regarded as a mere technicality. For Keynesian counter-cyclical policy, how-
ever, it is the very heart of the issue. The whole point, after ,-all, o f the investment
tax credit is that it be viewed as temporary, so that it can serve as an inducement
to finns to reschedule their investment projects. It should be clear that the fore-
casting methods used by Hall and Jorgenson (and, of course, by other econome-
tricians) cannot be expected to yield even order-of-magnitude estimates of the ef-
fects of explicitly temporary tax adjustments.
To lmrsue this issue further, it will be useful to begin with an explicit ver-
sion o f the standard accelerator model o f investment behavior. We imagine a con-
stant returns industry in which each finn has a constant output-capital ratio ;k.
Using a common notation for variables at both the finn and industry level, let k t
denote capital at the beginning o f year t. Output during t is ?,k t. Investment
during the year, it, affects next period's capital according to

kt+ 1 = it + (l-~)k t ,

14In particular, the low estimates of '¢Z' (see [ 15], Table 2, p. 400), which should equal capital's share in val-
ue added, are probably due to a sizeable transitory component in avariable which is treated theoretically as
though it were subject to permanent ch~ges only.

30
wlrere /5 is a constant physical-rate of depreciation. Output is sold on a perfect
market at a price Pt; investment goods are purchased at a constant price of unity.
Profits (sales less depreciation) are taxed at tbe rate 0t; tlrere is an investment
tax credit at tire rate 'I' t.
The firm is interested in maximizing the expected present value of receipts
net of taxes, discounted at the constant cost o f capital r. In the absence (as-
sumed here) o f adjustment costs, this involves equating the current cost of an ad-
ditional unit o f investnrent to the expected discounted net return. Assuming that
the currenttax bill is always large enough to cover tbe credit, the current cost of
acquiring an additional unit o f capital is (1-'t't), independent of the volume of in-
vestment goods purchased. Each uuit of investment yields k units of output, to
be sold next period at the (unknown) price Pt+l" Offsetting this profit is a tax
bill o f 0t+ 1 [~'Pt+l - /5]" In addition, (1-/5) units o f the investnrent good remain
for use after period t+l; with perfect capital goods markets, these units are valued
at (1-xI't+l). Thus letting Et(" ) denote an expectation conditional on informa-
tion up to period t, the expected discounted return per unit of investment in t
is

1
l+r E t [ X P t + l ( l ' 0 t + l ) + /50t+l + (1-/5)(l-~I't+l)].

Since a change in next period's tax rate 0t+ 1 which is not anticipated in t is a
"pure profit tax", 0t+ 1 and Pt+l will be uncorrelated. Hence, equating costs and
returns, one equilibrium condition for tile industry is

1
(7) l-q, t = 1-~-r { ?~Et(Pt+l)ll-Et(0t+l)] + /sEt(0t+ 1)

+ (1-/5)[1-Et('I't+l)l } .

A second equilibrium condition is obtained from tile assnmpti0n that tile

product market is cleared each period. Let industry demand be given by a linear
function, with a stochastically shifting intercept a t and a constant slope b, so
that quantity demanded next period will be at+ 1 - bPt+l. Quantity supplied
will be X tinres next period's capital. Tiren a second equilibrium condition is

X[i t + (1-/5)kt] = at+ 1 - bPt+l

31
Taking mean values of both sides,

(8) ;~li t + (1-8)ktl = El(at+l) - bEt(Pt+l )

Since our interest is in the industry investment function, we eliminate

Et(Pt+l) between (7) and (8) to obtain:

1 _ b [ r + 61
(9) it + (1-~)kt+ 1 = ~ Et(at+l) ;k2 1.Et (Ot+l)

b (l+r)~'t " (l-5)Et(~t+l)

+ ~'2 [ 1 Et(0t+l) ]

Equation (9) gives tile industry's "desired" stock of capital, i t + (1-~)k t, as a

function of the expected future state of demand and tile current and expected
fllture tax structure, as well as of tile cost of capital r, taken in this illustration
to be constant. The second and third terms on the right are tile product of tile
slope of the demand curve for capital, -bk "2, and the familiar Jorgensonian im-
plicit rental price; tile second term includes "interest" and depreciation costs,
net of taxes; the third includes the expected capital gain (or loss) due to changes
in the investment tax credit rate.
In most empirical investment stt, dies, firms are assumed to move gradually
from k t to the desired stock given by (9), due to costs of adjustment, delivery
lags, and the like. We assume here, purely for convenience, that file fidl adjust-
ment occurs in a single period.
Equation (9) is operationally at the same level as equations (1) and (4) of
tile preceding section: it relates current behavior to unobserved expectations of
filture variables. To move to a testable hypothesis, one must specify the time
series belmvior of a t, 0 t and ~ t (as was done for income in consumption theory),
obtain the optimal forecasting rule, and obtain the aualogue to tile consumption
function (6). Let us imagine that this has been accomplished, and estimates of
the parameters k and b have been obtained. How would one use these esti-
mates to evaluate the consequences of a particular investment tax credit policy?
The method used by Hall and Jorgenson is to treat the credit as a permanent
or once-and-for-all clmnge, or implicitly to set Et(~I't+l) equal to ~I't. Holding

32
0 t constant at 0, the effect'ofa change in the credit from 0 to ,/s (say) would
be tile same as a permanent lowering o f the price of investment goods to 1-~!' or,
b r+~i
from (9), an increase in the desired capital stock of ~ 2 . 1 - ~ If the credit is in
fact believed by corporations to be permanent, this forecast will be correct; other-
wise it will not be.
To consider alternatives, imagine a stochastic tax credit policy which
switches from 0 to a fixed number ~I' in a Markovian fashion, with transitions
given by Pr{~Pt+ 1 -~ ,I' I ~I't = 0} = qandPr{~Itt+ I = ~/" I ~I't = 'P} =p.15
Then if expectations on next period's tax credit are formed rationally, condition-
al on the presence or absence of the credit in the current period, we have

=:q,V if ~t = 0,
Et(~vt+ 1)
e/ if q't = ql.

The third term on the right of (9) is then

b~I'
x2(l_0 ) [-q(1-5)] if 'I' t = 0 ,

b~
),2(1.0) [ l + r - p(1-6)] if q't = ,I,.

The difference between tbese terms is given by tile expression

b@
(10) ~ [ 1 + r + (q-p)(l-~)l.
x2(1-0)
The expression (10) gives tile increment to desired capital stock (and, with
immediate adjustment, to current investment) when the tax credit is switched
from zero to q' in an economy where the credit operates , and is known to oper-
ate, in the stoc!mst.ic fashion described ab9ve. It does not measure the effect of a

15A tax credit designed for stabilization would, of course, need to respond to projected movements ha the
shift variable a t. In this case, the transition probabilities p and q would vary with indicators (say current
and lagged a t values) of future economic activity. Since my aim here is only to get an idea of the quantita-
tive imporlm~ce of a correct treatment of expectations, 1 x~ill not pursue this design problem further.

33
switch in policy from a no-credit regime to the stochastic regime used here.
(The difference arises because even when the credit is set at zero in the stochastic
regime, the possibility of capital loss, due to the iutrodttction of the credit in the
future, increases the implicit rental on capital, relative to the situation in which
the credit is expected to remain at zero forever.)
By examining extreme values of p and q one can get a good idea of the
quantitative importance of expectations in measuring the effect of the credit. At
one extreme, consider the case where the credit is expected almost never to be of-
fered (q near 0), but once offered, it is permanent (p near I). The effect of a
switch from 0 to ~I, is, in this case, approximately

bq~
X2(1..0) [r + 6],

using (10). This is the situation assumed, implicitly, by Hall and Jorgenson. At
the other extreme, consider the case of a frequently imposed but always transi-
tory credit (q near 1, p near 0). Applying (10), the effect of a switch in this case
is approximately

~I2+r-Sl •
~,2(1-0)
The ratio of effects is then (2 + r - 6)/(r + ~5). W i t h r = . 1 4 a u d f i =.15,
this ratio is about 7.16 We are not, then, discussing a quantitatively minor issue.
For a more realistic estimate, consider a credit which remains " o f f " for an
average period of 5 years, and when "switched on" remains for an average of onet 1

year. These a s s u n l p t i o u s correspond to setting p~0 and q---~. The ratio of the ef-
fect (from (10)),under tltese assumptions versus those used by Hall and Jorgenson
/

is now [1 + r + ~ ( 1 - f ) ] / ( r + ~ 5 ) . W i t h r = .14 and 6 = .15, this ratio is approxi-

mately 4.5. This ratio would probably be somewhat smaller under a more
satisfactory lag structure 17, but even taking this into account, it appears
likely llmt the potential stimulus of the investnrent tax credit may well be several
16The cost of capital of .14 and the depreciation rate of .15 (for manufacturing equipment) are annual rates
from [ 15]. Since the ratio (2 + r - ~)/(r + 5) is not time-unit free, the assumption that all movement to"
ward the new desired stock of capital takes place in'~"~ year is crucial at this point: by defining a period a s
shorter than one year this ratio will increase, and conversely for a longer period.
17For the reason given in note 16.

34
times greater titan the Hall-Jorgdfison estimates would indicate. 18
As was the case in the discussion of consumption behavior, estimation of a
policy effect along the above lines presupposes a policy generated by a fixed, rela-
tively simple rule, known by forecasters (ourselves) and by the agents subject to
the policy (an assumption which is not only convenient analytically but consis-
tent with Article 1, Section 7 of rite U.S. Constitution). To go beyond the kind
of order-of-magnitude calculations used here to an accurate assessment of the ef-
fects of the 1962 credit studied by Hall and Jorgenson, one would have to infer
the implicit rule which generated (or was thought by corporations to generate)
that policy, a task made difficult, or perhaps impossible, by the novelty of the
policy at the time it was introduced. Similarly, there is no reason to hope that we
can accurately forecast the effects of future ad hoc tax policies on investment be-
havior. On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that good quantitative
assessments of counter-cyclical fiscal rules, which are built into the tax structure
in a stable and well-understood way, can be obtained.

5.3 Phillips Curves

A third example is suggested by the recent contr0versyover tile Phelps-
Friedman hypothesis that permanent changes in the inflation rate will not alter
the average rate of unemployment. Most of the major econometric models have
been used in simulation experiments to test tltis proposition; the results are uni--
formly negative. Since expectations are involved in an essential way in labor and
product market supply behavior, one would presume, on the basis of the consi-
derations raised ill section 4, that these tests are beside the point119 This pre-
sumption is correct, as the following example illustrates.
It will be helpful to utilize a simple, parametric model which captures the
main features of the expectational view of aggregate supply - rational agents,
cleared markets, incomplete information. 20 We imagine suppliers of goods to be
distributed over N distinct markets i, i=l ..... N. To avoid index number problems,
suppose that the same (except for location) good is traded in each market, and
let Yit be the log of quantity supplied in market i in period t. Assutne, furti~er,
that the supply Yit is cotnposed of two factors

C
Yit = Y lilt + Yit '

181t should be noted that this conclusion reinforces the qualitative conclusion reached by liall and Jorgen-
son l l S h p. 413.
19Sargent [34] and ! [23] have developed this conclusion ea.tlier in similar contexts.
20This model is taken, with a few changes, from my earlier [24].

35
 where YitP denotes normal or permanent supply, and Yit c cyclical or transitory
supply (both, again, in logs). We take Y~t to be unresponsive to all but perma-
nent relative price changes or, since the latter have been defined away by assum-
ing a single good, simply unresponsive to price changes. Transitory supply yCt
varies with perceived changes in the relative price of goods in i:

C e
Yit = fl(Pit " Pit ) ,

e is the log of tim gen-

where Pit is the log of the actual price in i at t, and Pit
eral (geometric average) price level in the economy as a whole, as perceived in
market i. 21
Prices will vary from market to market for each t, due to file usual sources
of fluctuation hi relative demands. They will also fluctuate over time, due to
movements in aggregate demand. We shall not explore the sources of these price
movements (although tiffs is easy enough to do) but simply postulate that the ac-
tual price in i at t consists of two components:

Pit = Pt + zit •

Sellers observe the actual price Pit; tile two components cannot be separately
observed. The component Pt varies with time, but is common to all markets.
Based on informatiou obtained prior to t (call it It_l) traders in all markets take
Pt to be a normally distributed random variable, with mean Pt (reflecting this
past information) and variance 02. The component zit reflects relative price
variation across markets and time: zit is normally distributed, independent of
Pt and z. s (unless i=j, s=t), with mean 0 and variance ~.2.
J
The actual general price level at t is the average over markets of individual
prices,

1 N 1 N
~1 i =~ Pit = Pt + ~/ i=lX zit .

We take the number of markets N to be large, so that tile second term can be ne-
glected, and Pt is the general price level. To form the supply decision, suppliers
estimate Pt; assume that this estimate Pit e is the mean of the true conditional

I 21This supply function for goods should be thought of as drawn up given a cleaxed labor market in L See
Lucas and Rapping [22] for an analysis of the factors underlying this function.

36
distribution of Pt" Tile latter is calculated using tile observation that Pit is the
sum of two independent normal variates, one with mean 0 and variance r2; one
with mean ]5t and variance o 2. It follows that

Pit = E { P t l P i t ' l t ' l } = (l'0)Pit + OPt '

r2
where 0 = ' - -
o2+7-2

Based on this unbiased but generally inaccurate estimate of the current gen-
eral level of prices, suppliers in i follow

C
Yit = /3[pit " ((l'0)Pit + 0Pt~l = 013[Pit " Ptl

Now averaging over markets, and invoking the law of large numbers again, we
have the cyclical component of a~regate supply:

e
Yit = O~(pt - Pt)
Re-introducing tile permanent components,

(11) Yt = 0/3(Pt " Pt) + Ypt •

Though simple, (11) captures tile main features of tile expectational or "nat-
ural rate" view of aggregate supply. The supply of goods is viewed as following a
trend path Ypt which is not depeudent on nominal price movements. Deviations
from this path are induced whenever tile nominal price deviates from the level
which was expected to prevail on tile basis of past information. These deviations
occur because agents are obliged to infer current general price movements on the
basis of incomplete information.
It is worth speculating as to the sort of empirical performance one would
expect from (11). Ill doing so, we ignore the trend component Ypt, concentra-
ring on the determinants of Pt' /~ and 0. The parameter 16 reflects intertempor-
al sul~stitution possibilities in supply: technological factors such as storability of
production, and tastes for substituting labor supplied today for supply tomorrow.
One would expect 13 to be reasonably stable over time and across economies at a

similar level of development. The parameter 0 is the ratio o2 +r2 r2. r 2 reflects

37
the variability of relative prices within the economy; there is no reason to expect
it to vary systematically with demand policy, o 2 is the variance of the general
price level about its expected level; it will obviously increase with increases iu the
volatility of demand. 22 SimUarly, i~t, the expected price level conditional on
past information, will vary with actual, average inflation rates.
Turning to a specific example, suppose tlmt actual prices follow the random
walk

(12) Pt = Pt-I + et

where e t is normal with mean 7r and variance 02 . Then Pt = Pt-1 + 7r and

(11) becomes

(13) Yt = Ofl(Pt " Pt-1) "Ofle + Ypt "

Over a sample period during which ;r and 02 remain roughly constant, and if
Ypt can be effectively controlled for, (13) will appear to the econometrician to
describe a stable trade-off between inflation and real output. The addition of
lagged inflation rates will not improve the fit, or alter tl~is conclusion in any way.
Yet it is evident from (13) that a sustained increase in the ififlation rate (an in-
crease in 7r) will not affect real output.
This is not to say tlmt a distributed lag version of (11) might not perfoml
better empirically. Thus let the actual rate of inflation follow a first-order autore-
gressive scheme

APt = pAPt-I + et

or

(14) Pt = (l+p)Pt-1 " PPt-2 + et

where 0 < p < 1 and e t is distributed as before.

Then combining (11) and (14):

(15) Yt = O f l A P t " 0flpAPt-1 " OflTr + Ypt"

22This implication that the variability in demand affects the slope of the "trade-off" is the basis for the
tests of the natural rate hypothesis reported in [24l, as well as those by Adie [1] and B. Klein [18].

38
In econometric terms, the "long-run" slope, or trade-off, would be tile sum of tile
inflation coefficients, or 0/3(1-,o), which will not, if (14) is stable, be zero.
In short, one can imagine situations in which empirical Phillips curves ex-
hibit long lags and situations in which there are no lagged effects. In either case,
the "long-run" output-inflation relationship as calculated or simulated in the con-
ventional way Ires n o bearing on the actual consequences of pursuing a policy of
inflation.
As in the consumption and investment examples, the ability to use (13) or
(15) to forecast the consequences of a change in policy rests crucially on the as-
sumption that the parameters describing the new policy (in this case rr, 0 2 and p)
are known by agents. Over periods for which this assumption is not approximate-
ly valid (obviously there have been, and will continue to be, many such periods)
empirical Phillips curves will appear subject to "parameter drift," describable
over the sample period, but unpredictable for all but the very near future.

6. Policy Cqnsidemtions
In preceding sections, I have argued in general and by example that there are
compelling empirical and theoretical reasons for believing that a structure of the
fornl

Yt+l = F(Yt,xt,O,et)

(F known, 0 fixed, x t "arbitrary") will not be of use for forecasting and policy
evaluation in actnal economies. For short-term forecasting, these arguments have
long been anticipated in practice, and models with good (and improvable) track-
ing properties have been obtained by permitting and measuring "drift" in tile pa-
rameter vector 0. Under adaptive models wllich rationalize these tracking proce-
dures, however, long-run policy simulations are acknowledged to have infinite
variance, which leaves open tile question of quantitative policy evaluation.
One response to this situation, seldom defended explicitly today though in
implicit form probably dmninant at the most "practical" level of economic ad-
vice-giving, is simply to dismiss questions of tile long-term behavior of tile econo-
my under alternative policies and focus instead on obtaining what is viewed as de-
sirable behavior in the next few quarters. Tile hope is that tile changes in 0 in-
duced by policy changes will occur slowly, and that conditional forecasting based
on tracking models will therefore be rougldy accurate for a few periods. This
hope is both false and misleading. First, some poUcy changes induce immediate
jumps in 0: for example, an explicitly temporary personal income tax surcharge

39
will (c.f. section 5.1) induce an immediate rise in propensity to consume out of
disposable income and consequent errors in short-tern1 conditional forecasts. 23
Second, even if the induced changes in 0 are slow to occur, they should be
counted in the short-terul "objective function", yet rarely are. Thus econometric
Phillips curves roughly forecast the initial phase of the current inflation, but not
the "adverse" slrift in the curve to which that inflation led.
What kind of structuie might be at once consistent with the theoretical con-
siderations raised in section 4 and with operational, accurate policy evaluation?
One hesitates to indulge the common illusion that "general" structures are more
useful than specific, empirically verified ones; nevertheless, a provisional structure,
cautiously used, will facilitate the remainder of the discussion.
As observed in section 4, one cannot meaningfully discuss optimal decisions
of agents under arbitrary sequences { xt} of filture shocks. As an alternative
characterization, then, let policies and other disturbances be viewed as stochasti-
cally disturbed functions of the state of the system, or (parametrically)

(16) x t = G(Yt,k,~t)

where G is known, k is a fixed parameter vector, a n d ~/t a vector o f disturban-

ces. Then the reluainder of the economy follows

(17) Yt+l = F(Yt,Xt,0(k),et)'

where, as indicated, tile behavioral parameters 0 vary systematically with tile

parameters k governing policy and other "shocks". The econometric problem
in this context is that of estimating the function 0(),).
In a model of this sort, a policy is viewed as a change in the parameters ?~, or
in the function generating the values of policy variables at particular times. A
change ill policy (in X) affects the behavior of the system in two ways: first by
altering the time series behavior of xt; second by leading to modification o f the
behavioral parameters 0(),) goveruing the rest o f the system. Evidently, the way
this latter modification can be expected to occur depends crucially on the way
the policy change is carried out. If the policy change occurs by a sequence of de-
cisions following no discussed or pre-announced pattern, it will become known to
agents only gradually, and then perhaps largely as higher variance of "noise". In
this case, the movement to a new 0(),), if it occurs in a stable way at all, will be

23This observation has been made earlier, for exactly the reasons set out in section 5.1, by Eisner [8] and
Dolde [7], p. 15.

40
unsystematic, and econometrically unpredictable. If, on tile otller lland, policy
changes occur as fidly discussed and understood cilanges in rules, there is some
hope that tile resulting structural changes can be forecast on the basis of estima-
tion from past data of 0(k).
It is perhaps necessary to emphasize that tllis point of view towards condi-
tional forecasting, due originally to Knight and, in modem form, to Muth, does
not attribute to agents unnatural powers of instantly divining file true structure of
policies affecting tllem. More modestly, it asserts that agents' responses become
predictable to outside Observers only when there can be some confidence that
agents and observers share a common view of the nature of the shocks which
must be forecast by both.
Tile preference for "rules versus authority" in econonlic policy making sug-
gested by this point of view, is not, as I llope is clear, based on any demonstrable
optimality properties of rules-in- general (whatever that might mean). There seems
to be no theoretical argmnent ruling out tile possibility that (for example) dele-
gating economic decision-making authority to some individual or group might
not lead to superior (by some criterion) economic performance than is attainable
under some, or all, llypothetical rules ill the sense of (16). The point is rather
that this possibility cannot ill principle be substantiated empirically. The only
scientific quantitative policy evaluations available to us are comparisons of the
consequences of alternative policy rules.

7. Concluding Remarks
This essay has been devoted to an exposition and elaboration of a single syl-
logism: given that tile structure of all econometric model consists of optimal de-
cision rules of economic agents, and that optimal decision rules vary systematical-
ly with changes in the structure of series relevant to tlle decision maker, it follows
tllat any change in policy will systematically alter the strnctnre of econometric
models.
For tile question of the short-ternl forecasting, or tracking ability of econo-
metric models, we have seen that this conchlsion is of only occasional significance.
For issues involving policy evaluation, in contrast, it is fundamental; for it implies
that comparisons of the effects of alteruative policy rules using current macro-
econometric models are invalid regardless of tile performance of these models
over the sample period or in ex ante sIiort-tenn forecasting.
Tile argtnuent is, in part, destructive: tile ability to forecast the consequen-
ces of "arbitrary", unannounced sequences of policy decisions, currently claimed
(at least implicitly) by the theory of eeonoluic policy, appears to be beyond the

41
capability not only of tile current-generation models, but of conceivable fllture
models as well. On the other hand, as the consumption example shows, condi-
tional forecasting under the alternative structure (16) and (17) is, while scientif-
ically more demanding, entirely operational.
In short, it appears that policy makers, if they wish to forecast the response
of citizens, must take the latter into their confidence. This conclusion, if ill-
suited to current econometric practice, seems to accord well with a preference
for democratic decision making.

42
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46