Central to Bitcoin is its independence from any institution or government, allowing anyone to engage in a direct transaction at a low cost. So, what exactly is it, and how does it work?

The recent financial crisis saw a dramatic and persistent jump in interest rate spreads between overnight federal funds and longer-term interbank loans. The Fed took several actions to reduce these spreads, including the creation of the Term Auction Facility (TAF). The effectiveness of these...

Under this latter scenario, the Fed is not monetizing government debt — it is simply managing the supply of the monetary base in accordance with the goals set by its dual mandate.

Little difference in economic performance during the past two decades…is consistent with the theoretical and empirical evidence that monetary policy has no permanent effect on real variables.

June 10, 2013. Presentation. "The U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy." 19th Conference of Montreal—Entering the Next Economy: New Realities, New Frontiers, Montreal, Canada.

February 24, 2012. "Comments on 'Housing, Monetary Policy, and the Recovery' by Michael Feroli, Ethan Harris, Amir Sufi, and Kenneth West." Given at the 2012 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, Initiative on Global Markets, University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

The recent recession and recovery raise important questions about the relative weight of structural and cyclical factors in the economy. A recent San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank conference explored the extent to which different economic variables behaved in a standard cyclical fashion during...