This insightful collection examines the intersection between macroeconomics and finance. The key challenge in this area is to find the right measure of 'bad times' (the marginal value of wealth) to explain some assets' high average returns or low prices as compensation for those assets' tendency to pay off poorly in bad times.The volume includes a carefully chosen selection of articles that survey the various approaches to this question - including the equity premium, consumption based models, general equilibrium models and labour income/idiosyncratic risk approaches. The editor also provides a comprehensive introduction which sets these papers in context and surveys the broader literature.

With the inflation rate in the United States and many other countries on the rise for over a year and nearing double digits, the Hoover Institution hosted its 2022 conference on monetary policy. Policy makers, market participants, and academic researchers gathered to discuss the situation. Many agreed that low interest rates and high money growth were inappropriate given the high inflation rate and evidence that the United States has recovered from the deep recession induced by the pandemic and its policy response in 2020. The thoughtful papers and the thorough discussions in this volume of conference proceedings illustrate the debate about the reasons for this mismatch, as well as how to get back on track. They reflect a range of opinions and perspectives, including examination of the fiscal shock resulting from the COVID pandemic and the related borrowing and spending; emphasis on the value of adherence to rules versus discretion in setting Fed policy; lessons from history in the spikes in federal expenditures during times of war (including the pandemic) and in the timing of the Fed's use of its policy instruments; the role of central banks in the emerging inflation crisis; and s