To evaluate the Greenspan era, we nevertheless need to address three questions: Is his success due to talent or just luck? Does he have a system of monetary policy or is he himself the system? What will be his legacy? Greenspan was certainly lucky, but he was also clairvoyant. Above all, he has developed a profoundly original monetary policy. His confidence strategy is clearly opposed to the credibility strategy developed in central banks and the academic milieu after 1980, but also inflation targeting, which today constitutes the mainstream monetary policy regime. The question of his legacy seems more nuanced. However, Greenspan will remain 'for a considerable period of time' a highly heterodox and original central banker. His political vision, his perception of an uncertain world, his pragmatism and his openness form the structure of a powerful alternative system, the confidence strategy, which will leave its mark on the history of monetary policy.

Abstract: By analyzing the documents issued by the Bank of Canada, a new, original, monetary policy begins to emerge. The Canadian monetary policy tries to maintain its autonomy, while at the same time respecting floating exchange rates. The numerous innovations are the foundations of a New Consensus on monetary policy. Far from the dilemma of rule versus discretion of the former Monetarist and Keynesian methods, a new dilemma will be the focal point, that of credibility versus confidence. Here, the anticipations of the economic agents, the behavior of financial markets and the price of assets play a dominant role. Based on the innovative experiment of the Bank of Canada during the 1990s, the characteristics of the New Consensus is explained. Far from making independent central banks some high-powered institutions, it shows them instead to be "statues with feet of clay".

Resumen: Analizando los documentos publicados por el banco de Canadá, comienza a emerger una nueva y original política monetaria. La política monetaria cana diense intenta mantener su autonomía, mientras que al mismo tiempo respeta el tipo de cambio flotante. Las numerosas innovaciones son la fundación de un nuevo consenso en la política monetaria. Lejos del dilema de regla versus discreción de los anteriores métodos monetaristas y keynesianos, el nuevo dilema será el de credibilidad versus confianza. Aquí, las anticipaciones de los agentes económicos, el comportamiento de los mercados financieros y el precio de los activos desempeñan un papel dominante. Las características del nuevo consenso serán explicadas de acuerdo con el experimento innovador del banco de Canadá durante los noventa. Lejos de hacer a los bancos centrales independientes de algunas instituciones de alto poder, los muestra, más bien, como "estatuas con pies de arcilla".