The Rules-versus-Discretion Debate in the Light of Recent Experience

The rules-versus-discretion debate has been raging for more than fifty years now - with no end in sight. Positions and arguments, however, have changed over the years, under the joint influence of evolving economic doctrines and changing real-world events. I argue in this short paper that, for both these reasons, the pendulum is now - or rather should now be - swinging back toward discretion.