Central banks are major players in today's economic and financial policy making. While respected for their technical acumen and their pivotal role in defusing the global financial crisis, they are at the same time mistrusted by others and considered to be too powerful. In order to contribute to...

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. From War Financier to Bankers’ Bank -- Chapter 3. Central Banks under the Gold Standard -- Chapter 4. The Federal Reserve: A Unique Institution -- Chapter 5. From War to War: 1914-1939 -- Chapter 6. Post-war Progress: 1946-1960 -- Chapter 7. The 1960s:...

This paper employs a calibrated model of the US economy to analyze the boom and bust in house prices as well as the shifts in the distribution of wealth during the years around the Great Recession. We replicate the dynamics of the housing market using shocks to aggregate income, the distribution...

This paper studies the actions of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank during the financial crisis from 2007-2012. Whereas the first two parts concentrate on asset bubble theory and the development of the housing bubble, the third part rates the performance of the Federal Reserve during the crisis. The...