One of the most influential tests of the expectations hypothesis is Mankiw and Miron (1986), who found that the spread between the long-term and short-term rates provided predictive power for the short-term rate before the Fed's founding but not after. They suggested that the failure of the...

It is common knowledge that the Federal Reserve System was originally set up to provide the nation with a stable currency and a sound banking system. Less well known, however, is why the Fed was given an operating role in the nation's payments system. In this article, James N. Duprey and...

Monetary policy was freed from the straightjacket of pegging U.S. Treasury interest rates following the Treasury-Federal Reserve Accord in 1951. This newfound freedom led to a growing debate inside and outside the Federal Reserve System about the appropriate measures to use as operating guides....

The Federal Reserve Act erected a unique structure of government decision­making, independent with elaborate rules balancing internal power. Historical evidence suggests that this outcome was a response to public conflict over inflation's redistributive powers. This paper documents and...

In the early days of the Federal Reserve, changes in the discount rate were the principal instrument through which the central bank exercised control over credit conditions. In this -address, Strong explains the use of discount rate changes as a means of controlling the volume of credit and...

Harrison was the Bank's chief executive during a period of national economic hardship and financial instability: the early years of his term coincided with the stock market collapse of 1929, the Great Depression, and the bank failures that culminated in the banking crisis of 1933. In this...

Solomon held the office of president during a period of notably successful anti-inflationary monetary policy as well as rapid financial innovation and deregulation. In this speech, he discusses monetary strategy — in particular the targeting of monetary aggregates, interest rates, and nominal...