Federal Reserve Policy in the Face of Crises

Thursday, November 16, 2006
F.A. Hayek Auditorium
Cato Institute
8:00 a.m.– 5:00 p.m.

| About the Conference | Conference Schedule |

Randall S. Kroszner Federal Reserve Board	William Poole Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis	Anna J. Schwartz National Bureau of Economic Research	Robert J. Barro Harvard University

The U.S. twin deficits, huge unfunded liabilities in Social Security and Medicare, and incipient inflation are eroding the foreign-exchange value of the dollar and its role as a reserve currency. What, if anything, should the Fed do? The uncertainty surrounding Fed policy in the post-Greenspan era stems from the lack of a formal monetary rule and no clear guidelines on whether and how the Fed should respond to crises.

This year's monetary conference will address the following issues:

• How should the Fed respond to growing global imbalances and a falling dollar?


• Is global competition sufficient to discipline central banks?


• Did the Greenspan Fed err by providing too much liquidity in the face of crises and then overshooting in withdrawing that liquidity?


• How will the growing unfunded liabilities in Social Security and Medicare affect monetary policy?


• Should the Fed adopt inflation targeting?

Please join our distinguished speakers on November 16, at the Cato Institute, to discuss these and other important policy issues that confront the Bernanke Fed.