Monetary Policy
Featured Book Forum
Engine of Inequality: The Fed and the Future of Wealth in America
Live Online Book Forum | March 4, 2021 | 12 — 1 PM EST
Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy placed much greater focus on stabilizing the market than on helping struggling Americans. As a result, the richest Americans got a lot richer while the middle class shrank and economic and wealth inequality skyrocketed. George Selgin, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, will interview Karen Petrou on her new book, Engine of Inequality: The Fed and the Future of Wealth in America, and the pragmatic solutions inside for creating more inclusive monetary policy and equality‐enhancing financial regulation as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Featured Content
Monetary Conference Examines Digital Currencies
The promise and peril of new technology
How COVID-19 Changed the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve’s expansion into credit allocation during the COVID-19 pandemic will be difficult to roll back. Jim Dorn comments.
Envisioning Monetary Freedom
The much‐enlarged role of government in modern monetary systems makes it especially difficult to “inquire what would result” were the government to cease playing any role.
Hanke’s Inflation Dashboard: Venezuela Still Leads
The country is still firmly in the grip of hyperinflation, with an annual inflation rate of 2,436 percent by my measure.
Myopic Monetary Policy and Presidential Power: Why Rules Matter
In the absence of a monetary rule, a central bank is vulnerable to politicization. In the case of the United States, Congress delegated monetary authority to the Federal Reserve in 1913 and has increased the scope of that authority over time, especially following crises. However, Congress has never enacted an explicit rule to guide Fed policy, and it has used the Fed as a scapegoat when things go awry.
Should Cryptocurrencies Be Regulated like Securities?
Meet Our Experts
Featured Studies
Maintaining Distance between Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Adopting a rules‐based approach to the conduct of monetary policy would help safeguard central bank independence and promote both monetary and financial stability.
By James A. Dorn
Ground Proposals for “Helicopter Money”
“Helicopter money” is a fascinating theoretical construct that has proven useful in advancing economists’ understanding of various subtle points of monetary theory. But it risks undermining both Congress’s power of the purse and the Federal Reserve System’s already tenuous independence.
By George Selgin