The money supply in historical perspective -- Beyond monetary policy -- The development of a specie standard -- The U.S. banks and antebellum panics -- Greenbacks, gold, and silver purchases -- The national banking system -- Reform proposals and legislation -- The early Federal Reserve -- The...

In recent years, activist monetary policy rules responding to inflation and the level of economic activity have been advanced as a means of achieving effective output stabilization without inflation. Advocates of such policies suggest that their flexibility may yield substantial stabilization...

The paper shows that there is a substantial degree of heterogeneity in the ability of Fed watchers to forecast US monetary policy decisions. Based on a novel database for 268 professional forecasters since 1999, the average forecast error of FOMC decisions varies 5 to 10 basis points between the...