Last week we received some new data linking commodity prices to the decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Category Archives: Federal Reserve
Quick links
Here are a couple of nice summaries of the credit crunch and the Fed’s response.
Another 75
How much ammo is left in that fed funds gun?
Not a bailout
How shall we describe what happened this weekend with Bear Stearns? The first big casualty of the credit crisis, yes. Bailout, no.
TSLF
Last week the Fed announced yet another new measure to deal with the ongoing problems in credit markets in the form of a just-created
Term Securities Lending Facility, which we’re apparently invited to refer to affectionately as a TSLF.
Asking too much of monetary policy
I remember a Federal Reserve economist once recounting a conversation with his young daughter, who asked him, “What do you do at work, Daddy?” He answered, “I help make important decisions.” “What kind of decisions, Daddy?” “Oh, things like how much money the government needs to print.”
Commodity prices and the Fed
If the Fed thinks that recent commodity price moves have nothing to do with their own actions, perhaps they should think again.
Just how badly is the U.S. economy doing?
That’s the topic of a piece I wrote for today’s San Diego Union-Tribune.
Bernanke’s tightrope act
Some analysts are saying that Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is walking a tightrope– if he does not drop interest rates quickly enough, the U.S. will be in recession, but if he goes too far, we’ll see a resurgence of inflation. I am increasingly persuaded that’s not an accurate description of the situation.
Thinking about Monetary Policy Efficacy: Back to the Textbooks
As the Fed drops interest rates, I’ve been trying to sort out all the channels that monetary policy will affect output, and which ones are likely to be short circuited this time around.