William McChesney Martin became Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at the time of the March 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord and, in effect, created the modern Federal Reserve System. The authors recount some of the early events that shaped the modern Fed. They also relate...

Until March 1951, the Treasury compelled the Federal Reserve System to continue the pegging of government security prices that had begun in World War II. To break free from that obligation, the Fed would have to win a public confrontation with the President of the United States. Such an outcome...

Historically high levels of private and public debt coupled with already very low short-term interest rates appear to limit the options for stimulative monetary policy in many advanced economies today. One option that has not yet been considered is monetary financing by central banks to boost...

We have helicopter money when there is a lump-sum monetary transfer which produces intended central bank capital losses and/or a permanent monetary base change. This extraordinary monetary policy option appears whenever there is a significant economic crisis. But then the helicopter never flies....