Now that the Fed has started to bump up the federal funds rate, the explanation often heard for it is that the Fed is “tightening” monetary policy to keep economic growth in check. But sometimes the Fed needs to move rates just to keep policy from changing.

There has been a remarkable increase in the FOMC’s communication over the last decade. Perhaps the most dramatic change was the inclusion of language indicating the possible direction of future policy. One example is the now famous “considerable-period” language that was inserted in August...

An argument that the Federal Reserve System's current approach to seasonal cycles--pegging the nominal interest rate--could successfully be applied to the business cycle as well.

An argument against using short-term monetary policy to alleviate regional economic shocks and an analysis of how regional economic diversity lends strength to the goal of price stability as the Federal Reserve System's sole monetary policy focus.

A discussion of the February 1989 Humphrey-Hawkins testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan, with suggestions for using the process to better communicate the monetary policy objectives of the Federal Reserve.

A review of the Federal Reserve System's July 1988 Monetary Policy Report to Congress, indicating a decline in the role of monetary aggregates in the policy process and including the Federal Open Market Committee's projection of economic conditions.

Federal Reserve policymakers have expressed their support for ultimately shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet and returning the composition of its portfolio to only Treasury securities. Policymakers also favor returning to a fed-funds-rate-targeting procedure or something quite similar. While Fed...

A call for lending institutions to reconsider the problems associated with improving credit access in our inner cities, addressing not only the elimination of lending discrimination, but also the importance of enacting public policies that foster economic development and a strong banking...

Since 1990, when commercial banks were first eligible to join the Federal Home Loan Bank System, they have become an important constituency of the FHLBs. Currently, seven out of 10 banks are members, and nearly half of all banks have advances outstanding. Given the wide range of activities that...

A discussion of loan quality at a cross-section of 60 regional bank holding companies located in 12 states, using net charge-offs and non- performing loans as a measure of quality, and examining the linkage between loan quality and bank performance.