Last week I discussed the tools that the Federal Reserve will be using to raise short-term interest rates as we enter the next phase of U.S. monetary policy. In brief, the Fed plans to use interest on reserves and reverse repurchase agreements as an offer to borrow back Federal Reserve deposits at an annual rate between 25 and 50 basis points (0.25% to 0.50% interest per year). That offer from the Fed puts an effective floor under the fed funds rate, which is the rate at which institutions would lend these funds overnight to other banks. When the Fed raises its offering rate, the fed funds rate should go up with it. Today I look at the implications of these new procedures for the Fed’s balance sheet.
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Author Archives: James_Hamilton
Merry Christmas from Econbrowser
We wish all our readers the best of everything this season.
Implementing monetary policy in 2016
On Wednesday the Federal Reserve announced that it is increasing its target for the fed funds rate to a new range of 25 to 50 basis points (0.25% to 0.5% annual rate). How does the Fed plan to accomplish this, and what does it mean for other interest rates?
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Links for 2015-12-13
Quick links to a few items I found interesting.
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Factors in long-term unemployment
The BLS reported on Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate was down to 5% in October and November, its lowest level since 2008.
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Commodity prices and exchange rates
The dramatic decline in the prices of a number of commodities over the last 16 months must have a common factor. One variable that seems to be quite important is the exchange rate.
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Trends in oil production
World field production of crude oil increased 2.9 million barrels a day in the 12 months ended last July. That compares with a 3.6 mb/d increase over the entire nine years from Jan 2005 to Dec 2013.
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Preparing for lift-off
The strong October employment report makes it look likely that the era of zero interest rates will soon come to an end, at least for the United States.
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U.S. economy keeps growing
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced yesterday that U.S. real GDP grew at a 1.5% annual rate in the third quarter. Although the headline number sounds disappointing, the underlying fundamentals look solid.
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My experience with Uber
I’ve recently started using Uber for transportation when traveling and wanted to share some of my impressions.
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