20世纪70年代逐步发展起来的时间一致性理论对于经济政策如何在规则与灵活性之间做出选择进行了深入地探讨。现实经济生活中,因为参与人的偏好会随时间发生变化、社会和私人个体的偏好不一致、经济个体之间的目标不一致等原因导致了经济政策的时间不一致。通过对时间一致性理论的发展以及目前的研究动态综述,我们不难发现,完全的规则或灵活性并不能带来经济的持续稳定,现实无疑需要更为可信的政策。 The theory of time consistency that was gradually developed in the 1970s explored how economic policies make the choice between rules and flexibility. In real economic life, the time inconsistency of economic policies is caused by the fact that the preferences of participants change over time, the preferences of social and private individuals are inconsistent, and the objectives of economic individuals are inconsistent. Through the development of the theory of time consistency and the dynamic review of the current research, we can easily find out that complete rules or flexibility can not bring sustainable economic stability, and the reality undoubtedly needs more credible policies.