Alternative techniques of monetary control with special reference to Australia

Abstract

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the use of monetary policy as a stabilization tool. While there has been much dispute as to the role that monetary policy should play in economic stabilization, it has become increasingly popular for academic economists, especially in North America, to view open market operations, i.e., the buying and selling of government securities, as the sine-qua-non of monetary control. Thus open market operations, through the control they exert on the money supply, are seen as the most efficient means by which the monetary authorities can affect the general level of liquidity in the economy and, therefore, as the principal tool in using monetary policy as an aid to achieving economic stability .