Two Types of Discretion : Monetary Policy before 1979 and in the Greenspan Era

In our neoclassical Phillips curve model, two types of discretionary equilibria can be characterized as a deflationary equilibrium and a high-inflation equilibrium and the absolute value of feedback coefficient on the lagged output gap is larger for the former. This implies that more active policy corresponding to monetary policy during the Greenspan era, brings about deflation rather than high inflation under discretion. This critical aspect contradicts the results obtained in the context of the "rule versus discretion" literature. Furthermore, the discretionary regime in the Greenspan era is unstable, and the equilibrium corresponding to the discretionary regime before 1979, is stable.