Empirical analysis of the Fed's monetary policy behavior suggests that the Fed smooths interest rates— that is, the Fed moves the federal funds rate target in several small steps instead of one large step with the same magnitude. We evaluate the effect of countercyclical policy by estimating a...

The U.S. financial crisis of 2007-08 had detrimental and lasting effects on the economies of other nations, reinforcing the leading role played by the United States in the global economy. The authors assess this role by determining whether U.S. output growth informs business cycle turning points...

The effect of economic shocks on business cycles fluctuations may vary across industries. For example, shocks that originate in a single industry may propagate elsewhere, either up or down stream in the production chain. Thus, industries that are more connected may be more vulnerable to...

The stock market rose by 25% between the 2016 election and the day TCJA was signed into law. To determine how much the prospect of tax cuts contributed to this increase, we construct a human-based attribution by examining non-public Market Intelligence from FRBNY for each of the 283 days during...