The document discusses monetary policy tools and their effects on economic variables. It describes the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability. The four main tools of monetary policy are open market operations, the discount window, administered rates, and forward guidance. Expansionary monetary policy works to increase money supply and lower interest rates to boost aggregate demand and GDP during recessions. Contractionary policy has the opposite effects to curb inflation. Evaluation of monetary policy addresses its advantages over fiscal policy as well as limitations.
Important terms used in economics. It is useful for people who are new to economics. These terms are helpful for ones who are studying in commerce stream.
Important terms used in economics. It is useful for people who are new to economics. These terms are helpful for ones who are studying in commerce stream.
Even tho Pi network is not listed on any exchange yet.
Buying/Selling or investing in pi network coins is highly possible through the help of vendors. You can buy from vendors[ buy directly from the pi network miners and resell it]. I will leave the telegram contact of my personal vendor.
@Pi_vendor_247
Falcon stands out as a top-tier P2P Invoice Discounting platform in India, bridging esteemed blue-chip companies and eager investors. Our goal is to transform the investment landscape in India by establishing a comprehensive destination for borrowers and investors with diverse profiles and needs, all while minimizing risk. What sets Falcon apart is the elimination of intermediaries such as commercial banks and depository institutions, allowing investors to enjoy higher yields.
how to sell pi coins in all Africa Countries.DOT TECH
Yes. You can sell your pi network for other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, usdt , Ethereum and other currencies And this is done easily with the help from a pi merchant.
What is a pi merchant ?
Since pi is not launched yet in any exchange. The only way you can sell right now is through merchants.
A verified Pi merchant is someone who buys pi network coins from miners and resell them to investors looking forward to hold massive quantities of pi coins before mainnet launch in 2026.
I will leave the telegram contact of my personal pi merchant to trade with.
@Pi_vendor_247
Turin Startup Ecosystem 2024 - Ricerca sulle Startup e il Sistema dell'Innov...Quotidiano Piemontese
Turin Startup Ecosystem 2024
Una ricerca de il Club degli Investitori, in collaborazione con ToTeM Torino Tech Map e con il supporto della ESCP Business School e di Growth Capital
Currently pi network is not tradable on binance or any other exchange because we are still in the enclosed mainnet.
Right now the only way to sell pi coins is by trading with a verified merchant.
What is a pi merchant?
A pi merchant is someone verified by pi network team and allowed to barter pi coins for goods and services.
Since pi network is not doing any pre-sale The only way exchanges like binance/huobi or crypto whales can get pi is by buying from miners. And a merchant stands in between the exchanges and the miners.
I will leave the telegram contact of my personal pi merchant. I and my friends has traded more than 6000pi coins successfully
Tele-gram
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Poonawalla Fincorp and IndusInd Bank Introduce New Co-Branded Credit Cardnickysharmasucks
The unveiling of the IndusInd Bank Poonawalla Fincorp eLITE RuPay Platinum Credit Card marks a notable milestone in the Indian financial landscape, showcasing a successful partnership between two leading institutions, Poonawalla Fincorp and IndusInd Bank. This co-branded credit card not only offers users a plethora of benefits but also reflects a commitment to innovation and adaptation. With a focus on providing value-driven and customer-centric solutions, this launch represents more than just a new product—it signifies a step towards redefining the banking experience for millions. Promising convenience, rewards, and a touch of luxury in everyday financial transactions, this collaboration aims to cater to the evolving needs of customers and set new standards in the industry.
US Economic Outlook - Being Decided - M Capital Group August 2021.pdfpchutichetpong
The U.S. economy is continuing its impressive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and not slowing down despite re-occurring bumps. The U.S. savings rate reached its highest ever recorded level at 34% in April 2020 and Americans seem ready to spend. The sectors that had been hurt the most by the pandemic specifically reduced consumer spending, like retail, leisure, hospitality, and travel, are now experiencing massive growth in revenue and job openings.
Could this growth lead to a “Roaring Twenties”? As quickly as the U.S. economy contracted, experiencing a 9.1% drop in economic output relative to the business cycle in Q2 2020, the largest in recorded history, it has rebounded beyond expectations. This surprising growth seems to be fueled by the U.S. government’s aggressive fiscal and monetary policies, and an increase in consumer spending as mobility restrictions are lifted. Unemployment rates between June 2020 and June 2021 decreased by 5.2%, while the demand for labor is increasing, coupled with increasing wages to incentivize Americans to rejoin the labor force. Schools and businesses are expected to fully reopen soon. In parallel, vaccination rates across the country and the world continue to rise, with full vaccination rates of 50% and 14.8% respectively.
However, it is not completely smooth sailing from here. According to M Capital Group, the main risks that threaten the continued growth of the U.S. economy are inflation, unsettled trade relations, and another wave of Covid-19 mutations that could shut down the world again. Have we learned from the past year of COVID-19 and adapted our economy accordingly?
“In order for the U.S. economy to continue growing, whether there is another wave or not, the U.S. needs to focus on diversifying supply chains, supporting business investment, and maintaining consumer spending,” says Grace Feeley, a research analyst at M Capital Group.
While the economic indicators are positive, the risks are coming closer to manifesting and threatening such growth. The new variants spreading throughout the world, Delta, Lambda, and Gamma, are vaccine-resistant and muddy the predictions made about the economy and health of the country. These variants bring back the feeling of uncertainty that has wreaked havoc not only on the stock market but the mindset of people around the world. MCG provides unique insight on how to mitigate these risks to possibly ensure a bright economic future.
What price will pi network be listed on exchangesDOT TECH
The rate at which pi will be listed is practically unknown. But due to speculations surrounding it the predicted rate is tends to be from 30$ — 50$.
So if you are interested in selling your pi network coins at a high rate tho. Or you can't wait till the mainnet launch in 2026. You can easily trade your pi coins with a merchant.
A merchant is someone who buys pi coins from miners and resell them to Investors looking forward to hold massive quantities till mainnet launch.
I will leave the telegram contact of my personal pi vendor to trade with.
@Pi_vendor_247
Introduction to Indian Financial System ()Avanish Goel
The financial system of a country is an important tool for economic development of the country, as it helps in creation of wealth by linking savings with investments.
It facilitates the flow of funds form the households (savers) to business firms (investors) to aid in wealth creation and development of both the parties
2. The Dual Mandate
Tools of Monetary Policy
Monetary Policy, Real GDP, and the Price Level
Monetary Policy: Evaluation and Issues
The “Big Picture”
Appendix: The Taylor Rule
Chapter Contents
3. Monetary Policy
Monetary policy is the central bank’s attempt to control the
quantity of money and interest rates to achieve its goals.
Goals of the federal Reserve in the U.S. include
• Price stability
• Full employment
• Economic growth
A central bank can control money supply through banking
system and interest rates in money market.
4. The Dual Mandate
Congress ordered the Fed to pursue two objectives:
1. Full employment rate of unemployment
the Fed sets a target rate of
unemployment as an estimate of the full
employment rate.
Set around 3.5 percent.
2. Target rate of inflation
Set at 2 percent per year since 2012.
The Dual Mandate Bullseye Chart
5. How to Control Money Supply
The money supply is sum of currencies and checkable deposits.
• The Federal Reserve can issue new currencies or withdraw old currencies
from circulation.
• The Federal Reserve can change the quantity of reserves in the banking
system (sum of vault cash and deposits at the Fed by banks), which affects
banks’ ability to provide loans, and in turn, affects the quantity of
checkable deposits in the economy.
6. Four Tools of Monetary Policy
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tools: Tools to affect the
quantity of reserves in the banking system
1. Open-market operations
• Buying and selling of government securities
2. Discount windows operations
• Discount loan: Fed’s loans to banks
3. Administered rates
• Direct control of interest rates on loans between the Fed and banks
4. Forward Guidance
• Persuasion through communication
7. Open-Market Operations
Open-market operations: Buying from and selling of government
securities (or bonds) to commercial banks and the general public.
• Fed buys securities from bank (Bank receives reserves from the Fed)
bank reserves Bank loans and deposits Money supply
• Fed sells securities to bank (Bank loses reserves to the Fed)
bank reserves Bank loans and deposits Money supply
• Most frequently used to influence the money supply
8. Discount Windows Operations
The discount loans
• Short term loans to banks
• The Fed changes the discount rate (interest rate on discount loan) to
encourage or discourage banks to borrow from the Fed
• Passive monetary policy tool – it depends on bank’s decision on
borrowing from the Fed
• Lender of last resort: if no other banks want to make a loan, the Fed
stands to make the loan.
9. Administered Rates
• Interest rate on reserve balances (IORB): The Fed pays interests on
deposits made by banks at the Fed
Higher interest rate encourages banks to hold more reserves and
discourage loaning out, ultimately reduce the money supply.
• Overnight reverse repo (ON RRP): The Fed sells securities with
promise to buy back.
The Fed can change the quantity of reserves and money supply
temporally.
A difference between sales price and buy-back price is the interest.
• These interest rates fully controlled by the Fed influence interest
rates that banks charge to their customers.
10. Forward Guidance
Forward guidance—communicates to public how the Federal
Reserve 1) sees the state of the economy and 2) intends to conduct
monetary policy going forward.
• Individuals and businesses use the information to shape financial
decisions.
• Can affect the economy’s money supply and interest rates.
11. Federal Funds Rate
Federal funds: overnight interbank loans
Federal funds rate—Federal Reserve’s policy rate.
• Helps to communicate monetary policy stance.
• The Fed sets a federal funds target range.
• Determined in the federal funds market where banks demand and
supply funds to each others.
The federal funds rate affects all other bank interest rates
• Instead of trying to affect all interest rates in economy, the Federal Reserve
targets the federal funds rate which in turn sets other interest rates.
12. Prime Interest Rate and Federal Funds Rate
Changes in Federal funds rate lead changes in other market
interest rates.
13. Evolution of the Fed’s Tools and Strategies
Prior to recession of 2007-2008, the Fed used a smaller number
of monetary policy tools—open market operations.
The Fed appeared to be out of options as the effective funds rate
fell toward zero—the zero lower bounds problem.
Quantitative easing (QE)—trying to lower longer-term interest
rates through open market bond purchases.
Quantitative tightening (QT)—selling bonds to raise interest
rates.
14. Monetary Policy to Real GDP & Price Level
Changes in money supply has effects on real GDP and price level.
• Money Market: Changes in money supply affect interest rates.
• Investment demand: Changes in the interest rate affect investment
spending.
• Aggregate expenditure and aggregate demand: Changes in investment
affect the aggerate expenditure and aggregate demand.
• Real GDP and price level: Changes in the aggregate demand affect real GDP
and price level.
15. Monetary Policy
•Two types of Monetary Policy
• Expansionary monetary policy: Used to “Expand”
the economy during a recession by “Expanding”
money supply
• Contractionary (Restrictive) monetary policy: Used
to “Contract” the economy during high inflation by
“contracting” money supply
16. Expansionary Monetary Policy
When Economy is at below-full-employment equilibrium
• Unemployment rate is higher than natural rate
• Recessionary (negative GDP) gap: Real GDP is below potential GDP
• Recessionary expenditure gap: Not enough spending (Aggregate
expenditure)
To restore the full-employment equilibrium
• AE and AD should increase
• Real GDP increases
• Unemployment rate decreases
17. Expansionary Monetary Policy Process
To restore the full-employment equilibrium
Fed lowers target for Federal funds rate
Fed buys securities in Open market operation and lowesr
administered rates/discount rate
Money supply increases
Interest rate decreases
Investment and consumption increase
AE increases
AD increases
Real GDP increases
18. Expansionary Monetary Policy Effects
Real
rate
of
interest,
i
(percent)
Amount of money
demanded and supplied
(billions of dollars)
Amount of investment, I
(billions of dollars)
10
8
6
0 $15 $20 $25
Sm1 Smf
Dm ID
The market for money Investment demand
0 $125 $150
10
8
6
Real
rate
of
interest,
i
and
expected
rate
of
return
(percent)
Investment
demand
Price
level
Real domestic product, GDP
(billions of dollars)
Q1 = $880
0
Pf
P1
ADf (I = $20)
Aggregate Demand – Aggregate Supply
AS
Qf = $900
AD1 (I = $15)
a
b
c
d
e
f
19. Contractionary (Restrictive) Monetary Policy
When Economy is at above-full-employment equilibrium
• Unemployment rate is lower than natural rate
• Inflationary gap: Real GDP is above potential GDP
• Price level is high & inflation is imminent
To restore the full-employment equilibrium
• Either AD or AS should decrease
• Real GDP decreases
• Price level decreases
20. Contractionary (Restrictive) Monetary PolicyProcess
To restore the full-employment equilibrium
Fed raises target for Federal funds rate
Fed sells securities in Open market operation and raises
administered rates/discount rate
Money supply decreases
Interest rate increases
Investment and consumption decrease
AE decreases
AD decreases
Real GDP decreases
21. Contractionary Monetary Policy Effects
Real
rate
of
interest,
i
(percent)
Amount of money
demanded and supplied
(billions of dollars)
Amount of investment, I
(billions of dollars)
10
8
6
0 $15 $20 $25
Smf Sm3
Dm ID
The market for money Investment demand
0 $125 $150 $175
10
8
6
Real
rate
of
interest,
i
and
expected
rate
of
return
(percent)
Investment
demand
Price
level
Real domestic product, GDP
(billions of dollars)
Q1 = $880
0 $910
P2
P3
ADf (I = $20)
AD3 (I = $25)
Aggregate Demand – Aggregate Supply
AS
Qf = $900
f
c
e
b d
a
22. Evaluation and Issues
Advantages of monetary policy over fiscal policy
• Speed and flexibility
Change the target federal funds rate immediately
Change the money supply by any amount
Reverse the policy course easily if necessary
• Isolation from political pressure
Federal Reserve officers are appointed and serve for a long
term
23. Problems and Complications
• Lags: May not show effects in timely manner
Even though it can affect interest rate quickly, it takes time to affect
money supply and investment spending.
• Passive: Fed cannot directly affect aggregate demand, but rely on
banks’ and firms’ actions
• Cyclical asymmetry: Not effective during depression
When expected return on projects are low and risk is high, low
interest rate will not affect investment decision.
• Liquidity trap: When interest rate is already low near zero, it
cannot further lower the interest rate to stimulate investment.
24. Recent U.S. Monetary Policy
The Mortgage Default Crisis.
• Responded with quick and innovative actions during the
2007-2008 financial crisis and severe recession.
• Kept short-term interest rates low under a zero-interest
rate policy (ZIRP).
• Purchased debt securities at pre-crisis prices so financial
firms wouldn’t have to sell at current “panic prices.”
25. The 2010s Recovery
By 2009, slow recovery was under way.
Zero lower bound problem meant short-term interest
rates were as low as possible.
Quantitative easing.
Quantitative tightening.
26. The 2020 COVID Recession
COVID-related mandatory lockdowns a grave economic
threat. The Fed addressed the issue with:
• Forward guidance
• Lowered the federal funds target range
• Used administered rates
• Reinitiated quantitative easing
The recession was the shortest on record.
27. Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy
Monetary policy and Fiscal policy must be coordinated to
achieve the macroeconomic goals.
• Coordinated an expansionary policy to tackle a deep recession
• Coordinated a contractionary policy to tackle a high inflation
• Two policies are complementary.
An expansionary fiscal policy accompanies a deficit spending which
leads to a higher interest rate and causes the crowding-out of private
investment, offsetting its effect on aggregate demand.
Coordinated Fed’s open market purchase can keep the market rate low
to avoid the crowding out and help the fiscal policy to have its full
effect on aggregate demand.
28. Appendix: The Taylor Rule
Due to lags, discretionary monetary policy may cause
instability of economy
Set a simple rule for monetary policy proposed by economist
John Taylor
• Suggests how the Fed will adjust the nominal interest rate as it
pursues the Dual Mandate.
• Raise the federal funds rate by ½% for every 1% increase in real
GDP over potential GDP
• Raise the federal funds rate by ½% for every 1% increase in
inflation rate
29. Appendix: Taylor Rule Definitions
To express the Taylor Rule mathematically, we must define:
• Inflation Gap = the current actual rate of inflation minus the Fed’s
2.0 percent target rate for inflation
• Unemployment Gap = the current actual unemployment rate
minus the Fed’s 4.3 percent target rate for the unemployment rate
• Real risk-free interest rate = 2 percent
Fed target interest rate = real risk-free interest rate
+ current actual inflation rate
+ 0.5*(Inflation Gap)
– 1.0*(Unemployment Gap)
30. Disclaimer
Please do not copy, modify, or distribute this presentation
without author’s consent.
This presentation was created and owned by
Dr. Ryoichi Sakano
North Carolina A&T State University
It includes copy-righted materials from
Editor's Notes
This chapter starts by introducing the transactions and asset demand for money and explaining how the interaction of the demand and supply of money determine the interest rates in the market. Banks’ balance sheets are used to explain how open-market operations are effective in changing the money supply. We will learn about tools other than open-market operations that the Fed might use to manipulate the money supply and the reasons that these tools are chosen or not chosen. We will then evaluate expansionary and restrictive monetary policy, conditions under which these policies should be used, and how they impact interest rates, investment, and aggregate demand. We close with a discussion of issues related to monetary policy and current monetary policy.
Learning Objectives
LO35.1 Explain the tools of monetary policy, including open-market operations, forward guidance, and the administered rates.
LO35.2 Relate how the Fed's tools and strategies have evolved over the past several decades.
LO35.3 Define the Fed's dual mandate and explain how conflicts can arise between meeting the inflation target and the unemployment target.
LO35.4 Explain how monetary policy affects real GDP and the price level..
LO35.5 Explain the advantages and shortcomings of monetary policy.
LO35.6 Describe how the various components of macroeconomic theory and stabilization policy fit together.
LO35.7 (Appendix) State the Taylor Rule and explain how it balances the two parts of the Fed's dual mandate.
The Fed’s overall goal is to comply with the dual mandate given to it by Congress in 1977. That dual mandate states that the Fed’s main objectives should be to help the economy achieve full employment and stable prices. To do that, it targets the goals of achieving full-employment (an unemployment rate between 3 percent and 4 percent) while at the same time maintaining a target rate of inflation, currently set at around 2 percent per year. These targets are determined by the Fed based upon the current economic conditions. Other things equal, the Fed will be more inclined toward a restrictive monetary policy if the actual inflation rate as measured by the CPI is above the target rate or the actual unemployment rate falls below the target rate, and it will be more inclined toward an expansionary monetary policy if actual inflation is below the target rate or if the unemployment rate is above the target. The target unemployment rate factors in frictional and cyclical unemployment, while the target inflation rates balances the desire to allow for growth while keeping prices stable and interest rates above 0 to prevent people from pulling deposits from banks.
The Fed has a number of monetary policy tools at its disposal to mange the U.S. money supply. These tools help the agency manage interest rates and general economic activity.
Open-market operations are used by the Fed to increase or decrease the commercial bank reserves available, which, in turn, will affect the amount of money available in the economy. When a bond’s price rises, its interest rate falls and vice versa. By purchasing Treasury bonds in quantity, for example, the Fed can both decrease their equilibrium interest rate and increase the money supply by creating new money to pay for them.
As the “lender of last resort,” the Fed makes short-term loans to banks to cover unexpected and immediate needs for additional funds. The rate that the Fed charges the banks is called the discount rate. In providing the loan, the Fed increases the reserves of the borrowing bank. Since there are no required reserves against loans from the Fed, all new reserves are considered excess reserves, and as such, they enhance the ability of the bank to lend. If the Fed raises the discount rate, it discourages banks from borrowing, and if it lowers the rate, it encourages banks to borrow.
Of the three types of administered rates deployed by the Federal Reserve, the Interest rate on reserve balances and the overnight reserve repo rate are used to influence the money market by changing the rates at which financial institutions can lend money to the Fed. The discount rate, however, is the rate at which financial institutes can borrow money from the Fed.
If the Fed feels a recession is imminent and announces a future lowering of interest rates, businesses may elect to engage in more investment spending. Positive forward guidance inspires more lending and borrowing and increases the money supply, while negative forward guidance tightens the demand and supply of credit and reduces the size of the money supply.
The federal funds rate is an interest rate on a specific type of short-term, low-risk loan. While the federal funds market is a competitive market in which supply and demand determine an equilibrium price, it is also an aggressively managed market. The Fed sets a federal funds target range for the federal funds rate. The Fed adjusts the IORB rate and the ON RRP rate to ensure that the equilibrium interest rate in the federal funds market always lands within the federal funds target range.
With conventional open market operations appearing inadequate to address the 2007-2008 recession, the Fed tried several unconventional strategies. These included lowering interest rates through quantitative easing and raising them through quantitative tightening. Later, the Fed learned to control short-term interest rates with IORB and ON RRP.
This next section will discuss how monetary policy affects the economy’s levels of investment, aggregate demand, real GDP, and prices.
During times of recession and unemployment, the Fed will initiate expansionary monetary policy. The idea is to increase the supply of money in the economy in order to increase borrowing and spending. One of the problems that hindered the recovery following the recession of 2007 to 2009 was that while spending increased somewhat, borrowing was down. It seems ironic that when people save instead of borrow, it can actually be detrimental to the economy
This chain illustrates the causes and effects of expansionary monetary policy. When faced with the problems of unemployment and recession, the Fed takes actions to increase the money supply, which should eventually lead to real GDP rising. Unfortunately, it is not an immediate reaction, so the Fed may overshoot the mark, which can lead to inflation.
An expansionary monetary policy that shifts the money supply curve rightward in (a) lowers the interest rate from 10 percent to 8 percent, which results in the investment spending in (b) to increase from $15 to $20 billion and causes aggregate demand to increase.
The expansionary monetary policy shown in the graphs on the previous slide causes aggregate demand to increase and shifts the aggregate demand curve rightward from AD1 to AD2 in (c) so that real output rises to the full employment level, Qf, along the horizontal dashed line. Conversely, a restrictive monetary policy will cause the money supply curve to shift leftward, thereby increasing the interest rate, decreasing investment and aggregate demand. In (d), the economy at point a has an inflationary output gap because it is producing above potential output.
During times of rising inflation, the Fed will switch to a more restrictive monetary policy. In order to keep prices down, the Fed will increase the interest rate in order to reduce borrowing and spending, which will hopefully slow the expansion of aggregate demand that is driving up the price levels.
This chain illustrates the causes and effects of expansionary monetary policy. When faced with the problems of unemployment and recession, the Fed takes actions to increase the money supply, which should eventually lead to real GDP rising. Unfortunately, it is not an immediate reaction, so the Fed may overshoot the mark, which can lead to inflation.
An expansionary monetary policy that shifts the money supply curve rightward in (a) lowers the interest rate from 10 percent to 8 percent, which results in the investment spending in (b) to increase from $15 to $20 billion and causes aggregate demand to increase.
The expansionary monetary policy shown in the graphs on the previous slide causes aggregate demand to increase and shifts the aggregate demand curve rightward from AD1 to AD2 in (c) so that real output rises to the full employment level, Qf, along the horizontal dashed line. Conversely, a restrictive monetary policy will cause the money supply curve to shift leftward, thereby increasing the interest rate, decreasing investment and aggregate demand. In (d), the economy at point a has an inflationary output gap because it is producing above potential output.
Compared to fiscal policy, which involves the government changing its taxing and spending policies, monetary policy has several advantages. It can quickly be changed to fit the current economic conditions, and because the members of the Fed’s Board of Governors serve fixed terms and are appointed, not elected, they are not subject to the political pressures that elected officials are subjected to.
The lags complicate monetary policy because although its impact is faster than fiscal policy, there is still a three- to six-month delay that can cause problems and result in the Fed overshooting its targets. Economists also maintain that monetary policy is more effective in dealing with slowing expansions and controlling inflation than it is with helping the economy recover from a severe recession. Even though the Fed may create excess reserves during periods of recession, that does not mean the banks will loan the money out. This is why in the recent recessionary period, the United States focused more on the use of fiscal policy to attempt to spend its way out of the recession. We will probably never figure out which policies actually succeeded.
Given the fact that the recession was declared to have officially ended in June of 2009, many economists will continue to debate whether the Fed’s actions helped or hindered the recovery. Over the past decade, the Fed has acted quickly to attempt to stimulate the economy, even lowering the federal funds rate to almost zero.
To help stimulate the economy after the Great Recession, the Fed implemented the zero-interest-rate policy, quantitative easing, Operation Twist, and forward guidance. Under the zero-interest policy, the Fed aimed to keep short-term interest rates near zero to stimulate the economy. When growth remained weak, the Fed had to find a way to deal with the zero lower bound policy under which a central bank is constrained in its ability to stimulate the economy through lower interest rates since you cannot have a negative interest rate. Their next response was quantitative easing which is similar to open-market operations but is not intended to lower interest rates but rather stimulate increased lending. In the second round, the Fed engaged in forward commitment, preannouncing exactly how much it was going to buy.
By the close of 2015, the Fed felt that various economic indicators were signaling that monetary stimulus could end. For example, the unemployment rate had fallen back to just 5 percent in 2015, which was well below its 2009 peak of 10 percent. On that basis, the FOMC decided that the Fed could abandon ZIRP and QE while raising interest rates back up toward normal levels using forward guidance, a higher federal funds target range, increases in IORB and ON RRP, and quantitative tightening. Over the next five years, interest rates gradually increased and the economy continued to improve.
By early 2020, the U.S. economy was operating at full employment, with a 3.5-percent unemployment rate that exactly equaled the Fed’s unemployment target and a 2.3-percent inflation rate that was only slightly higher than the Fed’s inflation target. Given that the economy was operating almost exactly at the center of the Fed’s bullseye target, it seemed that the Fed might have very little to do for the next few years.
The Fed responded to the recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing forward guidance to the public, lowering the federal funds target range to 0-0.25 percent, used administered rates to lower the effective federal funds rate, along with other money market rates, and purchased $3 trillion of longer-term bonds to lower longer-term interest rates.
The lags complicate monetary policy because although its impact is faster than fiscal policy, there is still a three- to six-month delay that can cause problems and result in the Fed overshooting its targets. Economists also maintain that monetary policy is more effective in dealing with slowing expansions and controlling inflation than it is with helping the economy recover from a severe recession. Even though the Fed may create excess reserves during periods of recession, that does not mean the banks will loan the money out. This is why in recent recessionary periods, the United States focused more on the use of fiscal policy to attempt to spend its way out of the recession. We will probably never figure out which policies actually succeeded.
The Taylor rule was developed by economist John Taylor and builds upon the theory that central banks are willing to tolerate a small positive inflation rate if doing so helps the economy achieve its potential output. The Taylor rule assumes that the Fed has a 2 percent target inflation rate and follows three basic rules when setting its target for the federal funds rate: (1) When real GDP = potential GDP and inflation is at the target rate of 2 percent, the federal funds rate should be 4 percent. (2) For each 1 percent increase of real GDP above potential GDP, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent. (3) For each 1 percent increase in the inflation rate above the 2 percent target rate, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent.
The Taylor rule was developed by economist John Taylor and builds upon the theory that central banks are willing to tolerate a small positive inflation rate if doing so helps the economy achieve its potential output. The Taylor rule assumes that the Fed has a 2 percent target inflation rate and follows three basic rules when setting its target for the federal funds rate: (1) When real GDP = potential GDP and inflation is at the target rate of 2 percent, the federal funds rate should be 4 percent. (2) For each 1 percent increase of real GDP above potential GDP, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent. (3) For each 1 percent increase in the inflation rate above the 2 percent target rate, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent.
The Taylor rule was developed by economist John Taylor and builds upon the theory that central banks are willing to tolerate a small positive inflation rate if doing so helps the economy achieve its potential output. The Taylor rule assumes that the Fed has a 2 percent target inflation rate and follows three basic rules when setting its target for the federal funds rate: (1) When real GDP = potential GDP and inflation is at the target rate of 2 percent, the federal funds rate should be 4 percent. (2) For each 1 percent increase of real GDP above potential GDP, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent. (3) For each 1 percent increase in the inflation rate above the 2 percent target rate, the Fed should raise the real federal funds rate by ½ percent.