The Federal Reserve: Macroeconomic Analysis

Therefore, the quantitative easing adopted from 2009 was trying to gradually resume sustainable economic growth. Quantitative easing has helped to avert what could have been a second great depression (Wall Street, 2011). The US economy has been clawing its way out of the recession in 2009 and recovery has been slow compared to previous economic cycles. Regular review of the pace of securities purchase by the Federal reserve and the overall size of asset-purchase program in light of incoming information and adjusting the program as need be will help foster maximum employment and price stability.

Our economy is a machine that is ran by humans. A machine can only be as good as the person who makes it. This makes our economy susceptible to human error. A couple years ago the United States faced one of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, which was the Great Recession. The Great Recession was a severe economic downturn that occurred in 2008 following the burst of the housing market. The government tried passing bills to see if anything would help it from becoming another Great Depression. Trying to aid the government was the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve went through a couple strategies in order to help the economy recover. The Federal Reserve provided three major strategies to start moving the economy in a better direction. The first strategy was primarily focused on the central bank’s role of the lender of last resort. The second strategy was meant to provide provision of liquidity directly to borrowers and investors in key credit markets. The last strategy was for the Federal Reserve to expand its open market operations to support the credit markets still working, as well as trying to push long term interest rates down. Since time has passed on since the Great Recession it has been a long road. In this essay we will take a time to reflect on these strategies to see how they helped.

Given its mandate to maximize employment and maintain price stability, the Fed took monetary policy actions in December 2008 to keep long-term interest rates at near zero (between 0.0% and 0.25%) to help stabilize and revive the U.S economy -- leaving no option for further interest rate reduction.

In the late 2007, early 2008 the United States and the world was hit with the most serious economic downturn since The Great Depression in 1929. During this time the Federal Reserve played a huge role in assuring that it would not turn into the second Great Depression. In this paper, we will be discussing what the Federal Reserve did during this time, including a discussion of our nation’s three main economic goals which are GDP, employment, and inflation. My goal is to describe the historic monetary and fiscal policy efforts undertaken by the U.S. Government and Federal Reserve, including both the traditional and non-traditional measures to ease credit markets and stimulate the economy.

Inflation is a general increase in the prices of all goods and services. Inflation occurs when the average level of prices in the economy increases over time. Even as overall prices are increasing, particular relative prices will change. The US Federal Reserve attempts to control and reduce inflation. Central banks focus is on strictly controlling inflation, protecting financial assets, and keeping labor markets strictly in check. Central Banks hold inflation more important than unemployment. Central Banks believe the only long-run impact of monetary policy is on the rate of inflation. They believe free-market forces in the real economy determine real output, employment, and productivity. To attain the targeted inflation rate, central banks influence credit creation and hence spending by frequently adjusting interest rates.

The Federal Reserve should utilize a balanced approach to monetary policy. The current state of the economy—undershot employment and inflation goals—presents no conflict in achieving a neutral state. In fact any action that supports employment growth also moves inflation up toward our target (Evan

The United States Federal Reserve has been conducting open market operations in the financial markets since 2008 in order to drive down interest rates and promote economic growth following the 2007-08 financial crisis. The subsequent recession, dubbed the Great Recession, destroyed $19 trillion in household wealth and nearly 9 million jobs. The highly controversial quantitative easing (QE) program, which refers to the process of introducing new money into the money supply, has been effective in promoting US recovery over the past six years.

The Fed embraces four main areas of activities. First, conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing the credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment and stable tax prices. Maximum employment is a crucial part of making America run, by making jobs for the people and lowering the unemployment rate. Stabilizing tax prices is a hard job to enforce, but the Fed does its best to reduce tax prices jumping up and down, making it more sturdy. Secondly, supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the

In the late 2007, early 2008 the United States and the world was hit with the most serious economic downturn since The Great Depression in 1929. During this time the Federal Reserve played a huge role in assuring that it would not turn into the second Great Depression. In this paper, we will be discussing what the Federal Reserve did during this time including a discussion of our nation’s three main economic goals which are GDP, employment, and inflation. My goal is to describe the historic monetary and fiscal policy efforts undertaken by the U.S. Government and Federal Reserve including both the traditional and non-traditional measures to ease credit markers and stimulate the economy.

The Federal Reserve System is the most powerful institution in the United States economy. Functioning as the central bank of the United States, acting as a regulator, the lender of last resort, and setting the nation’s monetary policy via the Federal Open Market Committee, there is no segment of the American economy unaffected by the Federal Reserve [endnoteRef:1]. This power becomes even more substantial in times of “unusual and exigent circumstances,” as Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act gives authority to the Board of Governors to act unilaterally in lending and market making operations during financial crisis[endnoteRef:2]. As illustrated by their decision making in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Great Recession,

The Federal Reserve exercises its power to stimulate stable employment economies and economic prices. The pursuit of the required employment rate and the creation of price stability, the Federal Reserve can increase or decrease the interest rate.

The act stated that its purposes were "to provide for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes." After the implementation of the Federal Reserve, several laws were passed to supplement it. Some of the key laws affecting the Federal Reserve Act are the Banking act of 1935; the Employment Act of 1946; the 1970 amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act; the International Banking Act of 1978; the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978; the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980; the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991. In two of the above-named acts, Congress defined the main goals of national economic policy. These acts are the Employment Act of 1946 and the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978. The main goals of the Federal Reserve are economic growth, a high level of employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The Federal Reserve System is considered to be an independent central bank. It is an independent central bank only in the sense that its decisions do not have to be passed by the

The Federal Reserve, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce and Treasury Department play crucial roles in the value and availability of money in the USA economy. First, the Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It is run by a Board of Governors appointed by the president and serves as a bank to banks. It performs five general functions to promote the effective operation of the U.S. economy. One, it conducts the nation's monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy. Second, it promotes the stability of the financial system and seeks to minimize and contain systemic risks through active monitoring and engagement in the

To stabilize the economy bonds are used which release money into the market. The responsibility of the Central Bank is to maintain the health of the banking system and regulating the purchase and sale of bonds. The interest rates are controlled to balance the markets. According to the Monetary Policy Report to Congress, “The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained a target range of 0 to ¼ percent for the federal funds rate throughout the second half of 2009 and early 2010” while representing forecasted economic decisions to rationalize low levels for longer times on the federal funds rate (Federal Reserve, 2010). Purchases were still being made by the Fed’s to result in improvements to the economy through focusing on mortgages, the real estate market, and the credit market. Predictions by the Federal Open Market Committee depicted low levels on the federal funds rates in early 2010 which would continue for some time while over time the economy would see growth, a rise in inflation, and a decline in unemployment. Feds were in agreement though they expected the recovery process to be slower. Purchases by the Federal reserve were slowed, “$300 billion of Treasury securities were completed by October” and “the purchases of $1.25 trillion of MBS and about $175 billion of agency debt” were suppose to be finished the first quarter of 2010 (Federal Reserve, 2010).

With that said the basic function of the FED relates primarily to the maintenance of monetary and credit conditions favorable to sound business activity in all fields; agricultural, industrial and commercial. Among this some duties include the following: lending to member banks, open market operations, establishing discount rates, fixing reserve requirements and issuing regulations concerning these and other functions. Each Federal Reserve Bank is best described as a Bankers Bank. In a nutshell, member banks use their reserve accounts with their reserve banks similar to the way we use our own checking account. They may deposit in the reserve accounts the checks on other banks and surplus currency received from their customers, and they may withdrawal on the reserve. Thus a bank with excess in the reserve requirements can enlarge its extension of credit (loans). However, let's not forget that the Fed has the