Macroeconomics: The Primary Tools of Fed Policy

This role is achieved through the implantation of the monetary policies. According to Arnold (2008), Fed has several tools at it disposal that it uses in the monetary polices. These are; the open market operations which involve buying and selling U.S government securities in the financial markets. Further the bank is charged with the responsibility of determining the required reserve ratio. This ratio is given to the commercial banks dictating the minimum amounts that they should hold in to their accounts as deposits and for lending. Finally the Fed sets the discount rates putting in to consideration the overall market rates s well as desired effect on borrowing that the Fed seeks to achieve. In addition to these three major roles, as a bank, the Federal Reserve Bank can play the roles played by the commercial banks as the rules are not entirely prohibitive as far as this duty is concerned.

In order to properly explain the expansionary economic policies that the federal government engages in, it is important to understand the vocabulary being used. The Federal Reserve Bank, commonly referred to as the Fed, “is the central bank of the United States” (Arnold, 2014). According to Steven Pressman (2013), “the Federal Reserve is the institution in which the federal government and private banks do their banking. The central Federal Reserve banks are responsible for monitoring banks and ensuring they remain solvent. They also control interest rates and thus borrowing costs for consumers and business firms. This, in turn, affects unemployment and inflation, giving the Federal Reserve substantial control over the U.S. economy.” Expansionary fiscal policy

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.

By law, the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy to achieve its macroeconomic objectives of stable prices and maximum employment. The Federal Open Market Committee usually conducts policy by adjusting the level of short-term interest rates in response to changes in the outlook of the economy. Since 2008, the FOMC has also used large-scale purchases of Treasury securities and securities that were guaranteed or issued by federal agencies as a policy tool in an effort to lower longer-term interest rates and thereby improve financial conditions and so support the economic recovery (What).

When economists think of monetary policy implementation they primarily focus on instruments, operating targets, intermediate targets, and policy goals. Instruments are the variables directly controlled by the central bank(Flandreau, 2007). These contain, an interest rate charged on reserves borrowed from the central bank, the reserve requirement ratios that govern the level of reserves banks must hold against their deposit liabilities, and the composition of the central bank’s own balance sheet. The instruments of policy are employed to accomplish a

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 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 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

The first to be discussed is the discount rate is the interest rate charged by the Federal Reserve to banks for short term loan basis. The increase and decrease of the money supply is determined by the discount rate. Discount rate would be used is a bank needed twenty million dollars, the money would be borrowed from the United States treasury but has to be paid back at a interest rate of three percent. This monetary tool would be used with inflation if the expected inflation increases so will the discount rate and vice versus at the same rate remaining equivalent. During periods of time with high unemployment rate the discount rate is lowered in order to counteract high unemployment and to prevent the possibility of a recession. Secondly, there is the ratio reserve. Ratio reserve is the amount of money that has to be kept at a bank on reserve; this amount can be adjusted to back outstanding deposits. Ration reserve creates the marginal money supply at any given moment due to the Fed raising or lowering the reserve requirements. Although it is rarely used to control the money supply it is a tool that can be used. An example of how it would be used would be if Will comes in and deposit one thousand dollars and the reserve amount is ten percent, of that one thousand dollars one hundred will go to the reserve ratio. Allowing the other ninety percent to be used as a money supply for loans and etc. In the case of unemployment and high inflation the Fed has to lower the reserve ratio in order to decrease the unemployment rate and inflation because if the reserve ratio is lower then the economy and the money supply is moving more vividly. Lastly is the open market operations. Open market operations is the act of buying and selling Treasury securities’ between the Fed and certain selected banks in the open market, it is directed by the FOMC. Open market operations would be considered

In order for the Federal Reserve to fulfill their goal of moderate long term interest rates, stable prices and maximum employment, they rely on developing strategic changes to the monetary policy. Through monetary policy changes, the Federal Reserve can either restrict or encourage economic growth and inflation, thereby molding the macroeconomy into a state of consistent health. Overall, there are three tools used to modify the monetary policy, they include reserve requirements, discount rates, and open market operations. In an effort to promote price stability within the economy, these tools influence monetary conditions by affecting interest rates, credit availability, money supply and security prices. While one tool is use more frequently than the others, all three are necessary in establishing stable economic conditions.

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).

One form of direct control can be exercised by adjusting the legal reserve ratio (the proportion of its deposits that a member bank must hold in its reserve account), and as a result, increasing or decreasing the amount of new loans that the commercial banks can make. Because loans give rise to new deposits, the possible money supply is, in this way, expanded or reduced. This policy tool has not been used too much in recent years. The money supply may also be influenced through manipulation of the discount rate, which is the rate if interest charged by the Federal Reserve banks on short-term secured loans to member banks. Since these loans are typically sought to maintain reserves at their required level, an increase in the cost of such loans has an effect similar to that of increasing the reserve requirement. The classic method of indirect control is through open-market operations, first widely used in the 1920s and now used daily to make some adjustment to the market. Federal Reserve bank sales or purchases of securities on the open market tend to reduce or increase the size of commercial bank reserves. When the Federal Reserve sells securities, the purchasers pay for them with checks drawn on their deposits, thereby reducing the reserves of the banks on which the checks are drawn. The three instruments of control explained above have been conceded to be more effective in preventing inflation in times of high economic activity than in bringing about revival from a

The three main tools the Federal Reserve uses for monetary policy changes are open market operations, the discount rate, and the reserve requirements. The most important tool is the open markets because it involves the buying and selling of the government securities on the open market in or change the money supply and influence interest

      Monetary policy is under the control of the Federal Reserve System and is completely discretionary. It is the changes in interest rates and money supply to expand or contract aggregate demand. In a recession, the Fed will lower interest rates and increase the money supply. The Federal Reserve System’s control over the money supply is the key Mechanism of monetary policy. They use 3 monetary policy tools- Reserve Requirements, Discount Rates/Interest Rates, and Open Market Operations. The reserve requirement is the percentage of bank deposits a bank must hold in reserves and cannot loan out. By raising or lowering the reserve requirements, the Fed controls the amount of loanable funds. The interest rate is the amount the FED charges private banks, so they can meet the reserve requirements. The prime rate is currently set at 5%. If the Interest rate is low, the banks will borrow more money from the FED and the money supply will increase. Interest rates have been above average for the past 20 years, but are currently considered low. Open Market Operations is the most effective and most used