Search Results
Journal Article
The effectiveness of monetary policy
This analysis addresses changing views of the role and effectiveness of monetary policy, inflation targeting as an "effective monetary policy," monetary policy and short-run (output) stabilization, and problems in implementing a short-run stabilization policy.
Journal Article
A neutral federal funds rate?
Journal Article
Retail sweep programs and bank reserves, 1994-1999
Since January 1994, the Federal Reserve Board has permitted depository institutions in the United States to implement so-called ?retail sweep programs.? The essence of these programs is computer software that dynamically reclassifies customer deposits from transaction accounts, which are subject to statutory reserve-requirement ratios as high as 10 percent, to money market deposit accounts, which have a zero ratio. Through the use of such software, hundreds of banks have sharply reduced the amount of their required reserves. In many cases, this new lower requirement places no constraint on ...
Journal Article
Editor's introduction
Working Paper
The reform of October 1979: how it happened and why
This study offers a historical review of the monetary policy reform of October 6, 1979, and discusses the influences behind it and its significance. We lay out the record from the start of 1979 through the spring of 1980, relying almost exclusively upon contemporaneous sources, including the recently released transcripts of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings during 1979. We then present and discuss in detail the reasons for the FOMC's adoption of the reform and the communications challenge presented to the Committee during this period. Further, we examine whether the essential ...
Journal Article
The FOMC's balance-of-risks statement and market expectations of policy actions
In January 2000, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) instituted the practice of issuing a ?balance of risks? statement along with their policy decision immediately following each FOMC meeting. Robert H. Rasche and Daniel L. Thornton evaluate the use of the balance-of-risks statement and the market?s interpretation of it. They find that the balance-of-risks statement is one of the factors that market participants use to determine the likelihood that the FOMC will adjust its target for the federal funds rate at their next meeting. Moreover, they find that, on some occasions, the FOMC ...