Journal Article
1965: The Year the Fed and LBJ Clashed
Fessenden, Helen (2016-07)
The storied showdown between Fed Chairman Bill Martin and President Lyndon Johnson wasn't just about personalities. It was a fundamental dispute over the Fed's policymaking role.
Econ Focus , Issue 3Q/4Q , Pages 4-7

Journal Article
An Ounce of Prevention
Fessenden, Helen (2017-10)
Research Spotlight on the following paper: "The Effect of Primary Care Visits on Health Care Utilization: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial." Cathy J. Bradley, David Neumark, and Lauryn Saxe Walker. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 24100, December 2017.
Econ Focus , Issue 4Q , Pages 9-9

Briefing
How Couples Approach Portfolio Allocation
Lazaryan, Nika; Neelakantan, Urvi; Fessenden, Helen (2017-02)
The classical theory of household portfolio allocation finds that the share of household wealth invested in risky assets is independent of the level of household wealth. However, this prediction is at odds with empirical observations. This Economic Brief presents findings that reconcile the two. A model in which a household's portfolio allocation reflects the preferences of both spouses, adjusted for the bargaining power of each spouse, predicts that the wealthier a household becomes, the greater the share of its wealth will be invested in risky assets.
Richmond Fed Economic Brief , Issue February

Journal Article
JARGON ALERT: Real Interest Rate
Fessenden, Helen (2015-04)
Econ Focus , Issue 2Q , Pages 8-8

Briefing
Why Are Women Leaving the Labor Force?
Canon, Maria E.; Fessenden, Helen; Kudlyak, Marianna (2015-11)
The female labor force participation (LFP) rate has dropped steadily since 2000, especially among single women. At the same time, the percentage of single women has grown as a share of the female population, a trend that has increased the impact of the single women's LFP rate on the aggregate women's LFP rate. An analysis of data from the Current Population Survey shows that a growing percentage of single women who are not in the labor force are going to school. Meanwhile, an increasing share of married women list retirement as the reason for no longer participating in the labor force.
Richmond Fed Economic Brief , Issue Nov

Journal Article
Shifting into Neutral: In 1994, the Federal Reserve launched a pre-emptive strike against inflation in a series of interest rate hikes that drew controversy at the time
Fessenden, Helen (2015-04)
Econ Focus , Issue 2Q , Pages 4-7

Journal Article
Why Aren't More Women Working?
Fessenden, Helen (2016-07)
The share of American women in the labor force is slipping even as it rises in the rest of the developed world
Econ Focus , Issue 3Q/4Q , Pages 14-17

Journal Article
Too Small to Succeed?
Fessenden, Helen (2017-01)
The hard facts of education economics are putting some small colleges at risk
Econ Focus , Issue 1Q , Pages 16-20

Journal Article
Price Gouging
Fessenden, Helen (2017-10)
Econ Focus , Issue 4Q , Pages 8-8

Journal Article
The HIV/AIDS Challenge
Fessenden, Helen (2016-04)
Book Review of The Economics of the Global Response to HIV/AIDS by Markus Haacker, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, 290 pages
Econ Focus , Issue 2Q , Pages 31-31