This paper examines the role of aggregate productivity and money supply shocks in determining the relationship between inflation and the distribution of relative commodity prices. I estimate a restricted VAR that includes aggregate variables and individual commodity prices, and compute the...

This paper examines the role of aggregate productivity and money supply shocks in determining the relationship between inflation and the distribution of relative commodity prices. I estimate a restricted VAR that includes aggregate variables and individual commodity prices, and compute the...

As the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act approaches, we assess whether the nation’s experiment with the Federal Reserve has been a success or a failure. Drawing on a wide range of recent empirical research, we find the following: (1) The Fed’s full history (1914 to present)...