Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke last week released a statement of how the Fed intends to manage its bloated balance sheet over the next few years. Here I offer my interpretation of what his plan involves.
Author Archives: James_Hamilton
Reactions to last week’s economic data
Here I offer some thoughts on last week’s numbers for employment, auto sales, and commodity prices.
Commodity inflation update
The view I have been forming of near-term inflationary pressures is that we’re seeing two very different dynamics in play, with the dollar prices of things the Chinese can stockpile and import going up and the dollar prices of everything else (like U.S. wages and rents) under significant downward pressure. The last week seemed to bring some reprieve on the first front.
John Cochrane on the credit crisis
University of Chicago Professor John Cochrane (hat tip: Capital Spectator) has an interesting analysis of the causes of the financial problems of the last few years.
Strong GDP growth with weak fundamentals
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that the seasonally adjusted real value of the nation’s production of goods and services grew at a 5.7% annual rate during the fourth quarter. That’s great news, but…
A budget freeze?
Here I offer some thoughts on President Obama’s new proposal.
Why Bernanke should be reconfirmed
Econbrowser readers are well aware that there are a number of issues on which I have concerns about some of the decisions the Fed has made, such as
dropping the ball on regulation ([1],
[2]),
keeping interest rates too low for too long over 2003-2005 ([1],
[2]),
taking some real risks with the Fed’s new balance sheet ([1],
[2],
[3]), and
pretending the Fed had nothing to do with the commodity price boom of 2008 ([1],
[2]). Notwithstanding, there is no question in my mind that Bernanke should be reconfirmed as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Here’s why.
Inflation fears
Is it reasonable to worry about inflation in the current environment?
How the Federal Reserve earned its profit
I was curious to take a look at the details behind the following story:
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced preliminary unaudited results indicating that the Reserve Banks provided for payments of approximately $46.1 billion of their estimated 2009 net income of $52.1 billion to the U.S. Treasury. This represents a $14.4 billion increase over the 2008 results.
Haiti relief efforts
One of the organizations to which I have made a contribution is Heart to Heart International.