For many years, the Federal Reserve's discount window has played an important role in monetary policy. Discount window borrowing helps individual depository institutions manage their reserve accounts in the presence of unexpected deposit and payments flows. Improved reserve management, in turn,...

The volatility of financial markets in recent years has led to increased concern. As trading of financial assets on organized exchanges and over-the-counter markets has grown, events such as the 1987 stock market crash and the 1992 Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis in Europe have raised fundamental...

Considerable attention has been focused recently on the size and persistence of the U.S. budget deficit. Somewhat lost in the headlines is growing concern among many economists and policymakers over "the other deficit"--the U.S. current account deficit. Before 1982, U.S. current account deficits...