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Conference Paper
Monetary policy in a low-inflation environment: a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, New York, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Minneapolis, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, October 18-20, 1999
A diverse group of economists and policymakers gathered in Woodstock, Vermont, in October 1999 to discuss the conduct of monetary policy in a low-inflation environment. The conference was held at a time when many countries had successfully reduced their inflation rates to the low single digits, an outcome without recent historical precedent that raises important questions about the conduct of monetary policy.
Conference Paper
Conference summary
The conference papers and panel discussion explored a number of issues bearing on monetary policy design and operation in an environment of very low nominal interest rates.
Working Paper
Cross-lender variation in home mortgage lending
A lender-specific analysis of differences in minority and low-income mortgage loan originations using new applicant-level data gathered under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975.
Journal Article
Issues in CRA reform
An analysis of the prevailing community-lending environment, including a history of the implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act, a discussion of related research studies, and a recommendation of important economic considerations as policymakers attempt to reform the process of enhancing credit flows to disadvantaged communities.
Journal Article
Collective bargaining and disinflation
A discussion of wage behavior over the business cycle and of the effect of deferred wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and current settlements on labor union rates, using the auto industry as an example.
Working Paper
Low-income-rental-housing programs in the Fourth District
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, many policy analysts are rethinking national housing policies, including affordable housing programs. We review the literature to compare the largest tenant-based (housing choice voucher or HCV) and place-based (low-income-housing tax credit or LIHTC) programs with respect to cost efficiency and access to better quality neighborhoods. We also provide an overview of low-income-rental-housing policy trends and perform a rough comparison of neighborhood quality across programs and counties, focusing on four main urban counties in the Fourth Federal ...
Journal Article
Inflation targets: the next step for monetary policy
An argument that adopting specific inflation targets as a way of achieving price stability would enhance the United States' economic performance.
Journal Article
Information dynamics and CRA strategy
A look at how the quantity and source of information flowing to lenders can affect their credit decisions, and an argument that lenders should take advantage of the CRA provisions that allow them to address their obligations through joint-lending programs and qualified investments.
Journal Article
Home mortgage lending by the numbers
A look at some of the issues associated with reports that minority applicants for home mortgage loans are far more likely than whites to be denied credit. The authors raise the concern that simple comparisons of denial rates are not sufficient for grasping the complexities surrounding community-oriented lending.
Journal Article
Cross-lender variation in home mortgage lending
An evaluation of the feasibility of using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data to form quantitative measures of fair lending for use in enforcement. The authors find that cross-lender differences in minority and low-income originations primarily reflect differences in application rates, not in approval rates, and that most of the variation in lender behavior cannot be attributed to variance in applicant characteristics reported in the HMDA data or to differences in the geographic markets served by the lenders.