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Monetary Policy 101: A Primer on the Fed's Changing Approach to Policy Implementation

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Abstract

The Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy in order to achieve its statutory mandate of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates as prescribed by the Congress and laid out in the Federal Reserve Act. For many years prior to the financial crisis, the FOMC set a target for the federal funds rate and achieved that target through purchases and sales of securities in the open market. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, with a superabundant level of reserve balances in the banking system having been created as a result of the Federal Reserve's large scale asset purchase programs, this approach to implementing monetary policy will no longer work. This paper provides a primer on the Fed's implementation of monetary policy. We use the standard textbook model to illustrate why the approach used by the Federal Reserve before the financial crisis to keep the federal funds rate near the FOMC's target will not work in current circumst ances, and explain the approach that the Committee intends to use instead when it decides to begin raising short-term interest rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Jane E. Ihrig & Ellen E. Meade & Gretchen C. Weinbach, 2015. "Monetary Policy 101: A Primer on the Fed's Changing Approach to Policy Implementation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-47, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2015-47
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2015.047
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Judson, Ruth A. & Klee, Elizabeth, 2010. "Whither the liquidity effect: The impact of Federal Reserve open market operations in recent years," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 713-731, September.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. How the Fed will tighten
      by Steve Cecchetti and Kim Schoenholtz in Money, Banking and Financial Markets on 2015-08-10 16:53:34
    2. The Fed's successful tightening
      by Steve Cecchetti and Kim Schoenholtz in Money, Banking and Financial Markets on 2017-03-27 17:33:49
    3. Pitfalls of a Reserves-only Narrow Bank
      by Steve Cecchetti and Kim Schoenholtz in Money, Banking and Financial Markets on 2018-09-24 12:03:16

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Carlson, Mark & Wheelock, David C., 2018. "Near-money premiums, monetary policy, and the integration of money markets: Lessons from deregulation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 16-32.
    2. KAMKOUM, Arnaud Cedric, 2023. "The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis and its Effects: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of the Impact of its Quantitative Easing Programs," Thesis Commons d7pvg, Center for Open Science.
    3. Jane E. Ihrig & Edward Kim & Cindy M. Vojtech & Gretchen C. Weinbach, 2019. "How Have Banks Been Managing the Composition of High-Quality Liquid Assets?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 101(3).
    4. KAMKOUM, Arnaud Cedric, 2023. "The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis and Its Long-Term Impact: An Interrupted Time-Series Natural Experimental Analysis," OSF Preprints 53qbm, Center for Open Science.
    5. Jaremski, Matthew & Mathy, Gabriel, 2018. "How was the quantitative easing program of the 1930s Unwound?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 27-49.
    6. Ellen Ryan & Karl Whelan, 2023. "A Model of QE, Reserve Demand, and the Money Multiplier," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(2-3), pages 407-439, March.
    7. Alexander Kroeger & John McGowan & Asani Sarkar, 2018. "The pre-crisis monetary policy implementation framework," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue 24-2, pages 38-70.
    8. Jane E. Ihrig & Ellen E. Meade & Gretchen C. Weinbach, 2015. "Rewriting Monetary Policy 101: What's the Fed's Preferred Post-Crisis Approach to Raising Interest Rates?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 177-198, Fall.
    9. Dutkowsky, Donald H. & VanHoose, David D., 2017. "Interest on reserves, regime shifts, and bank behavior," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-15.
    10. Dutkowsky, Donald H. & VanHoose, David D., 2018. "Interest on reserves and Federal Reserve unwinding," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 28-38.
    11. Dutkowsky, Donald H. & VanHoose, David D., 2018. "Breaking up isn’t hard to do: Interest on reserves and monetary policy," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 15-27.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    FOMC; Federal Reserve; liftoff; monetary policy implementation; monetary policy normalization; monetary policy tools;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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