But in the early fall there were moments when the risk of a serious downturn was much greater, and even the relatively flat 2001 recession prompted renewed policy discussions about how to deal with recessions. Today, I offer my own views on the subject.
For obvious reasons, I will avoid an evaluation of specific actions or pieces of legislation and just discuss a general strategy. My central point is that putting in place a sensible long-term macroeconomic policy strategy, covering both fiscal and monetary policy, is extremely important.