Working Paper
Theodore Roosevelt, the Election of 1912, and the Founding of the Federal Reserve
Jaremski, Matthew; Wheelock, David C. (2023-04)
This paper examines how the election of 1912 changed the makeup of Congress and led to the Federal Reserve Act. The decision of Theodore Roosevelt and other Progressives to run as third-party candidates split the Republican Party and enabled Democrats to capture the White House and Congress. We show that the election produced a less polarized Congress and that new members were more likely to support the Act. Absent the Republican split, Republicans would likely have held the White House and Congress, and enactment of legislation to establish a central bank would have been unlikely or ...
Working Papers , Paper 2023-008

Working Paper
Looking Beyond the Fed: Do Central Banks Cause Information Effects?
Cotton, Christopher D. (2022-09-01)
The importance of central bank information effects is the subject of an ongoing debate. Most work in this area focuses on the limited number of monetary policy events at the Federal Reserve. I assess the degree to which nine other central banks cause information effects. This analysis yields a much larger panel of primarily novel events. Following a surprise monetary tightening, economic forecasts improve in line with information effects. However, I find this outcome is driven by the predictability of monetary policy surprises and not information effects. My results support the view that ...
Working Papers , Paper 22-21

Working Paper
To What Degree and through Which Channel Do Central Banks Other Than the Federal Reserve Cause Spillovers?
Cotton, Christopher D. (2022-09-01)
Spillovers play a crucial role in driving monetary policy around the world. The literature focuses predominantly on spillovers from the Federal Reserve. Less attention has been paid to spillovers from other central banks. I measure the degree to which 20 central banks cause spillovers. I show that central banks in medium- to high-income countries cause spillovers to medium- to long-term interest rates in similar countries through a bond-pricing channel. These effects are narrower than spillovers from the Federal Reserve, which also affect emerging markets, short-term interest rates, and other ...
Working Papers , Paper 23-3

Speech
Paper on Economic Sanctions and the Law of Central Bank Immunity in the United States
Ostrander, Richard (2023-09-05)
Paper prepared for Panel Discussion on Central Bank Immunities and International Sanctions, ECB Legal Conference 2023, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Speech