Federal Reserve programs during the recent financial crisis sought to provide liquidity to individual firms or industries. An interesting additional question is whether the aggregate amount of liquidity in the economy was appropriate before and during the recent financial crisis.

Most analysts have concluded that the LSAP successfully reduced long-term market interest rates. How, exactly, do LSAP-style programs succeed?

Most central banks implement quantitative easing through asset purchases. Sweden took a different path.

Politicians, market participants, and economists have argued about whether the increased trading induced by the growth of index funds over the past decade is a cause of high commodity prices.

Assessing the state of the economy requires estimates of trends in employment and the labor force. Large monthly fluctuations make it difficult to infer these from monthly data.

Greater transparency is a means to better synchronize the public with policymakers and minimize the risks of undesirable economic outcomes.

Some analysts, noting Japan's continued slow deflation, assert that Japan is trapped in a slow-growth, deflationary equilibrium. Former Governor Shirakawa argued that Japan had "gotten out"—at least when judged by the growth of real GDP.>