Federal Reserve System

Federal Reserve System
Seal Federal Reserve System headquarters (Eccles Building)
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Established December 23, 1913 (1913-12-23) (98 years ago)
Chairman Ben Bernanke
Central bank of United States
Currency United States dollar
ISO 4217 Code USD
Base borrowing rate 0%–0.25%[1]
Website federalreserve.gov
Banking in the United States

Monetary policy
The Federal Reserve System

Regulation

Lending
Credit card

Deposit accounts
Savings account
Checking account
Money market account
Certificate of deposit

Deposit account insurance
FDIC and NCUA

Electronic funds transfer (EFT)
ATM card
Debit card
ACH
Bill payment
EBT
Wire transfer

Check Clearing System
Checks
Substitute checksCheck 21 Act

Types of bank charter
Credit union
Federal savings bank
Federal savings association
National bank

The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally as the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907.[2][3][4] Over time, the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System have expanded and its structure has evolved.[3][5] Events such as the Great Depression were major factors leading to changes in the system.[6]

The Congress established two key objectives for monetary policy--maximum employment and stable prices--in the Federal Reserve Act. These objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate.[7] Its duties have expanded over the years and today, according to official Federal Reserve documentation, include conducting the nation's monetary policy, supervising and regulating banking institutions, maintaining the stability of the financial system and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions.[8]The Fed also conducts research into the economy and releases numerous publications, such as the Beige Book.

The Federal Reserve System's structure is composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors (or Federal Reserve Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, numerous privately owned U.S. member banks and various advisory councils.[9][10][11] The FOMC is the committee responsible for setting monetary policy and consists of all seven members of the Board of Governors and the twelve regional bank presidents, though only five bank presidents vote at any given time. The Federal Reserve System has both private and public components, and was designed to serve the interests of both the general public and private bankers. The result is a structure that is considered unique among central banks. It is also unusual in that an entity outside of the central bank, namely the United States Department of the Treasury, creates the currency used.[12]

According to the Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve is independent within government in that "its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government." Its authority is derived from statutes enacted by the U.S. Congress and the System is subject to congressional oversight. The members of the Board of Governors, including its chairman and vice-chairman, are chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The government also exercises some control over the Federal Reserve by appointing and setting the salaries of the system's highest-level employees. Thus the Federal Reserve has both private and public aspects.[13][14][15][16] The U.S. Government receives all of the system's annual profits, after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks' capital investment is paid, and an account surplus is maintained. In 2010, the Federal Reserve made a profit of $82 billion and transferred $79 billion to the U.S. Treasury.[17]

Contents

History

Central banking in the United States

In 1690, the Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first to issue paper money in what would become the United States, but soon others began printing their own money as well. The demand for currency in the colonies was due to the scarcity of coins, which had been the primary means of trade.[18] Colonies' paper currencies were used to pay for their expenses, as well as a means to lend money to the colonies' citizens. Paper money quickly became the primary means of exchange within each colony, and it even began to be used in financial transactions with other colonies.[19] However, some of the currencies were not redeemable in gold or silver, which caused them to depreciate.[18] The Currency Act of 1751 set limits on the issuance of Bills of Credit by the New England states and set requirements for the redemption of any bills issued. This Act was in response to the overissuance of bills by Rhode Island, eventually reducing their value to 1/27 of the issuing value.[20] The Currency Act of 1764 completely banned the issuance of Bills of Credit (paper money) in the colonies and the making of such bills legal tender because their depreciation allowed the discharge of debts with depreciated paper at a rate less then contracted for, to the great discouragement and prejudice of the trade and commerce of his Majesty's subjects. The ban proved extremely harmful to the economy of the colonies and inhibited trade, both within the colonies and abroad.[21]

The first attempt at a national currency was during the American Revolutionary War. In 1775 the Continental Congress, as well as the states, began issuing paper currency, calling the bills "Continentals". The Continentals were backed only by future tax revenue, and were used to help finance the Revolutionary War. Overprinting, as well as British counterfeiting caused the value of the Continental to diminish quickly. This experience with paper money led the United States to strip the power to issue Bills of Credit (paper money) from a draft of the new Constitution on August 16, 1787. [22] as well as banning such issuance by the various states, and limiting the states ability to make anything but gold or silver coin legal tender. [23]

In 1791 the government granted the First Bank of the United States a charter to operate as the U.S. central bank until 1811.[18] The First Bank of the United States came to an end under President Madison because Congress refused to renew its charter. The Second Bank of the United States was established in 1816, and lost its authority to be the central bank of the U.S. twenty years later under President Jackson when its charter expired. Both banks were based upon the Bank of England.[24] Ultimately, a third national bank, known as the Federal Reserve, was established in 1913 and still exists to this day.

Timeline of central banking in the United States

Sources: "Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan – "Our banking history"". May 2, 1998. http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/Speeches/1998/19980502.htm. , "History of the Federal Reserve". http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/about%2Dthe%2Dfed/history. , "Historical Beginnings...The Federal Reserve" (PDF). 1999. http://www.bos.frb.org/about/pubs/begin.pdf. , Chapter 1

Creation of First and Second Central Bank

The first U.S. institution with central banking responsibilities was the First Bank of the United States, chartered by Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on February 25, 1791 at the urging of Alexander Hamilton. This was done despite strong opposition from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, among numerous others. The charter was for twenty years and expired in 1811 under President Madison, because Congress refused to renew it.[25]

In 1816, however, Madison revived it in the form of the Second Bank of the United States. Years later, early renewal of the bank's charter became the primary issue in the reelection of President Andrew Jackson. After Jackson, who was opposed to the central bank, was reelected, he pulled the government's funds out of the bank. Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States, responded by contracting the money supply to pressure Jackson to renew the bank's charter forcing the country into a recession, which the bank blamed on Jackson's policies. Interestingly, Jackson is the only President to completely pay off the national debt. The bank's charter was not renewed in 1836. From 1837 to 1862, in the Free Banking Era there was no formal central bank. From 1862 to 1913, a system of national banks was instituted by the 1863 National Banking Act. A series of bank panics, in 1873, 1893, and 1907, provided strong demand for the creation of a centralized banking system.

Creation of Third Central Bank

The main motivation for the third central banking system came from the Panic of 1907, which caused renewed demands for banking and currency reform.[26] During the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the United States economy went through a series of financial panics.[27] According to many economists, the previous national banking system had two main weaknesses: an inelastic currency and a lack of liquidity.[27] In 1908, Congress enacted the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, which provided for an emergency currency and established the National Monetary Commission to study banking and currency reform.[28] The National Monetary Commission returned with recommendations which were repeatedly rejected by Congress. A revision crafted during a secret meeting on Jekyll Island by Senator Aldrich and representatives of the nations top finance and industrial groups later became the basis of the Federal Reserve Act.[29][30] This act was passed on December 23, 1913, in a special session, when many opponents of the Act had left Washington for Christmas.[31]

Federal Reserve Act

The head of the bipartisan National Monetary Commission was financial expert and Senate Republican leader Nelson Aldrich. Aldrich set up two commissions—one to study the American monetary system in depth and the other, headed by Aldrich himself, to study the European central banking systems and report on them.[28] Aldrich went to Europe opposed to centralized banking, but after viewing Germany's monetary system he came away believing that a centralized bank was better than the government-issued bond system that he had previously supported.

In early November 1910, Aldrich met with five well known members of the New York banking community to devise a central banking bill. Paul Warburg, an attendee of the meeting and long time advocate of central banking in the U.S., later wrote that Aldrich was "bewildered at all that he had absorbed abroad and he was faced with the difficult task of writing a highly technical bill while being harassed by the daily grind of his parliamentary duties".[32] After ten days of deliberation, the bill, which would later be referred to as the "Aldrich Plan", was agreed upon. It had several key components, including a central bank with a Washington-based headquarters and fifteen branches located throughout the U.S. in geographically strategic locations, and a uniform elastic currency based on gold and commercial paper. Aldrich believed a central banking system with no political involvement was best, but was convinced by Warburg that a plan with no public control was not politically feasible.[32] The compromise involved representation of the public sector on the Board of Directors.[33]

Aldrich's bill met much opposition from politicians. Critics were suspicious of a central bank, and charged Aldrich of being biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Aldrich's son-in-law. Most Republicans favored the Aldrich Plan,[33] but it lacked enough support in Congress to pass because rural and western states viewed it as favoring the "eastern establishment".[2] In contrast, progressive Democrats favored a reserve system owned and operated by the government; they believed that public ownership of the central bank would end Wall Street's control of the American currency supply.[33] Conservative Democrats fought for a privately owned, yet decentralized, reserve system, which would still be free of Wall Street's control.[33]

The original Aldrich Plan was dealt a fatal blow in 1912, when Democrats won the White House and Congress.[32] Nonetheless, President Woodrow Wilson believed that the Aldrich plan would suffice with a few modifications. The plan became the basis for the Federal Reserve Act, which was proposed by Senator Robert Owen in May 1913. The primary difference between the two bills was the transfer of control of the Board of Directors (called the Federal Open Market Committee in the Federal Reserve Act) to the government.[2][25] The bill passed Congress on December 23, 1913,[34][35] on a mostly partisan basis, with most Democrats voting "yea" and most Republicans voting "nay".[25]

Key laws

Key laws affecting the Federal Reserve have been:[36]

Purpose

The primary motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics.[3] Other purposes are stated in the Federal Reserve Act, such as "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".[37] Before the founding of the Federal Reserve, the United States underwent several financial crises. A particularly severe crisis in 1907 led Congress to enact the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. Today the Federal Reserve System has broader responsibilities than only ensuring the stability of the financial system.[38]

Current functions of the Federal Reserve System include:[8][38]

Addressing the problem of bank panics

Bank runs occur because banking institutions in the United States are only required to hold a fraction of their depositors' money in reserve. This practice is called fractional-reserve banking. As a result, most banks invest the majority of their depositors' money. On rare occasion, too many of the bank's customers will withdraw their savings and the bank will need help from another institution to continue operating. Bank runs can lead to a multitude of social and economic problems. The Federal Reserve was designed as an attempt to prevent or minimize the occurrence of bank runs, and possibly act as a lender of last resort if a bank run does occur. Many economists, following Milton Friedman, believe that the Federal Reserve inappropriately refused to lend money to small banks during the bank runs of 1929.[40]

Elastic currency

One way to prevent bank runs is to have a money supply that can expand when money is needed. The term "elastic currency" in the Federal Reserve Act does not just mean the ability to expand the money supply, but also to contract it. Some economic theories have been developed that support the idea of expanding or shrinking a money supply as economic conditions warrant. Elastic currency is defined by the Federal Reserve as:[41]

Currency that can, by the actions of the central monetary authority, expand or contract in amount warranted by economic conditions.

Monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System is based partially on the theory that it is best overall to expand or contract the money supply as economic conditions change.

Check Clearing System

Because some banks refused to clear checks from certain others during times of economic uncertainty, a check-clearing system was created in the Federal Reserve system. It is briefly described in The Federal Reserve System—Purposes and Functions as follows:[42]

By creating the Federal Reserve System, Congress intended to eliminate the severe financial crises that had periodically swept the nation, especially the sort of financial panic that occurred in 1907. During that episode, payments were disrupted throughout the country because many banks and clearinghouses refused to clear checks drawn on certain other banks, a practice that contributed to the failure of otherwise solvent banks. To address these problems, Congress gave the Federal Reserve System the authority to establish a nationwide check-clearing system. The System, then, was to provide not only an elastic currency—that is, a currency that would expand or shrink in amount as economic conditions warranted—but also an efficient and equitable check-collection system.

Lender of last resort

In the United States, the Federal Reserve serves as the lender of last resort to those institutions that cannot obtain credit elsewhere and the collapse of which would have serious implications for the economy. It took over this role from the private sector "clearing houses" which operated during the Free Banking Era; whether public or private, the availability of liquidity was intended to prevent bank runs.

Emergencies

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, "the Federal Reserve has the authority and financial resources to act as 'lender of last resort' by extending credit to depository institutions or to other entities in unusual circumstances involving a national or regional emergency, where failure to obtain credit would have a severe adverse impact on the economy."[43] The Federal Reserve System's role as lender of last resort has been criticized because it shifts the risk and responsibility away from lenders and borrowers and places it on others in the form of inflation.[44]

Fluctuations

Through its discount and credit operations, Reserve Banks provide liquidity to banks to meet short-term needs stemming from seasonal fluctuations in deposits or unexpected withdrawals. Longer term liquidity may also be provided in exceptional circumstances. The rate the Fed charges banks for these loans is the discount rate (officially the primary credit rate).

By making these loans, the Fed serves as a buffer against unexpected day-to-day fluctuations in reserve demand and supply. This contributes to the effective functioning of the banking system, alleviates pressure in the reserves market and reduces the extent of unexpected movements in the interest rates.[45] For example, on September 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve Board authorized an $85 billion loan to stave off the bankruptcy of international insurance giant American International Group (AIG).[46][47]

Central bank

In its role as the central bank of the United States, the Fed serves as a banker's bank and as the government's bank. As the banker's bank, it helps to assure the safety and efficiency of the payments system. As the government's bank, or fiscal agent, the Fed processes a variety of financial transactions involving trillions of dollars. Just as an individual might keep an account at a bank, the U.S. Treasury keeps a checking account with the Federal Reserve, through which incoming federal tax deposits and outgoing government payments are handled. As part of this service relationship, the Fed sells and redeems U.S. government securities such as savings bonds and Treasury bills, notes and bonds. It also issues the nation's coin and paper currency. The U.S. Treasury, through its Bureau of the Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing, actually produces the nation's cash supply and, in effect, sells the paper currency to the Federal Reserve Banks at manufacturing cost, and the coins at face value. The Federal Reserve Banks then distribute it to other financial institutions in various ways.[48] During the Fiscal Year 2008, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing delivered 7.7 billion notes at an average cost of 6.4 cents per note.[49]

Federal funds

Federal funds are the reserve balances (also called federal reserve accounts) that private banks keep at their local Federal Reserve Bank.[50][51] These balances are the namesake reserves of the Federal Reserve System. The purpose of keeping funds at a Federal Reserve Bank is to have a mechanism for private banks to lend funds to one another. This market for funds plays an important role in the Federal Reserve System as it is what inspired the name of the system and it is what is used as the basis for monetary policy. Monetary policy works partly by influencing how much interest the private banks charge each other for the lending of these funds.

Federal reserve accounts contain federal reserve credit, which can be converted into federal reserve notes. Private banks maintain their bank reserves in federal reserve accounts.

Balance between private banks and responsibility of governments

The system was designed out of a compromise between the competing philosophies of privatization and government regulation. In 2006 Donald L. Kohn, vice chairman of the Board of Governors, summarized the history of this compromise:[52]

Agrarian and progressive interests, led by William Jennings Bryan, favored a central bank under public, rather than banker, control. But the vast majority of the nation's bankers, concerned about government intervention in the banking business, opposed a central bank structure directed by political appointees. The legislation that Congress ultimately adopted in 1913 reflected a hard-fought battle to balance these two competing views and created the hybrid public-private, centralized-decentralized structure that we have today.

In the current system, private banks are for-profit businesses but government regulation places restrictions on what they can do. The Federal Reserve System is a part of government that regulates the private banks. The balance between privatization and government involvement is also seen in the structure of the system. Private banks elect members of the board of directors at their regional Federal Reserve Bank while the members of the Board of Governors are selected by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The private banks give input to the government officials about their economic situation and these government officials use this input in Federal Reserve policy decisions. In the end, private banking businesses are able to run a profitable business while the U.S. government, through the Federal Reserve System, oversees and regulates the activities of the private banks.

Government regulation and supervision

Federal Banking Agency Audit Act enacted in 1978 as Public Law 95-320 and Section 31 USC 714 of U.S. Code establish that the Federal Reserve may be audited by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).[53] The GAO has authority to audit check-processing, currency storage and shipments, and some regulatory and bank examination functions, however there are restrictions to what the GAO may in fact audit. Audits of the Reserve Board and Federal Reserve banks may not include:

  1. transactions for or with a foreign central bank or government, or nonprivate international financing organization;
  2. deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters;
  3. transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
  4. a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to items (1), (2), or (3).[54][55]

The financial crisis which began in 2007, corporate bailouts, and concerns over the Fed's secrecy have brought renewed concern regarding ability of the Fed to effectively manage the national monetary system.[56] A July 2009 Gallup Poll found only 30% Americans thought the Fed was doing a good or excellent job, a rating even lower than that for the Internal Revenue Service, which drew praise from 40%.[57] The Federal Reserve Transparency Act was introduced by congressman Ron Paul in order to obtain a more detailed audit of the Fed. The Fed has since hired Linda Robertson who headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp. and was adviser to all three of the Clinton administration's Treasury secretaries.[58][59][60][61]

The Board of Governors in the Federal Reserve System has a number of supervisory and regulatory responsibilities in the U.S. banking system, but not complete responsibility. A general description of the types of regulation and supervision involved in the U.S. banking system is given by the Federal Reserve:[62]

The Board also plays a major role in the supervision and regulation of the U.S. banking system. It has supervisory responsibilities for state-chartered banks[63] that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies (companies that control banks), the foreign activities of member banks, the U.S. activities of foreign banks, and Edge Act and "agreement corporations" (limited-purpose institutions that engage in a foreign banking business). The Board and, under delegated authority, the Federal Reserve Banks, supervise approximately 900 state member banks and 5,000 bank holding companies. Other federal agencies also serve as the primary federal supervisors of commercial banks; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency supervises national banks, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation supervises state banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System.

Some regulations issued by the Board apply to the entire banking industry, whereas others apply only to member banks, that is, state banks that have chosen to join the Federal Reserve System and national banks, which by law must be members of the System. The Board also issues regulations to carry out major federal laws governing consumer credit protection, such as the Truth in Lending, Equal Credit Opportunity, and Home Mortgage Disclosure Acts. Many of these consumer protection regulations apply to various lenders outside the banking industry as well as to banks.

Members of the Board of Governors are in continual contact with other policy makers in government. They frequently testify before congressional committees on the economy, monetary policy, banking supervision and regulation, consumer credit protection, financial markets, and other matters.

The Board has regular contact with members of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and other key economic officials. The Chairman also meets from time to time with the President of the United States and has regular meetings with the Secretary of the Treasury. The Chairman has formal responsibilities in the international arena as well.
Preventing asset bubbles

The board of directors of each Federal Reserve Bank District also has regulatory and supervisory responsibilities. For example, a member bank (private bank) is not permitted to give out too many loans to people who cannot pay them back. This is because too many defaults on loans will lead to a bank run. If the board of directors has judged that a member bank is performing or behaving poorly, it will report this to the Board of Governors. This policy is described in United States Code:[64]

Each Federal reserve bank shall keep itself informed of the general character and amount of the loans and investments of its member banks with a view to ascertaining whether undue use is being made of bank credit for the speculative carrying of or trading in securities, real estate, or commodities, or for any other purpose inconsistent with the maintenance of sound credit conditions; and, in determining whether to grant or refuse advances, rediscounts, or other credit accommodations, the Federal reserve bank shall give consideration to such information. The chairman of the Federal reserve bank shall report to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System any such undue use of bank credit by any member bank, together with his recommendation. Whenever, in the judgment of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, any member bank is making such undue use of bank credit, the Board may, in its discretion, after reasonable notice and an opportunity for a hearing, suspend such bank from the use of the credit facilities of the Federal Reserve System and may terminate such suspension or may renew it from time to time.

The punishment for making false statements or reports that overvalue an asset is also stated in the U.S. Code:[65]

Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or report, or willfully overvalues any land, property or security, for the purpose of influencing in any way...shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

These aspects of the Federal Reserve System are the parts intended to prevent or minimize speculative asset bubbles, which ultimately lead to severe market corrections. The recent bubbles and corrections in energies, grains, equity and debt products and real estate cast doubt on the efficacy of these controls.

National payments system

The Federal Reserve plays an important role in the U.S. payments system. The twelve Federal Reserve Banks provide banking services to depository institutions and to the federal government. For depository institutions, they maintain accounts and provide various payment services, including collecting checks, electronically transferring funds, and distributing and receiving currency and coin. For the federal government, the Reserve Banks act as fiscal agents, paying Treasury checks; processing electronic payments; and issuing, transferring, and redeeming U.S. government securities.[66]

In passing the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980, Congress reaffirmed its intention that the Federal Reserve should promote an efficient nationwide payments system. The act subjects all depository institutions, not just member commercial banks, to reserve requirements and grants them equal access to Reserve Bank payment services. It also encourages competition between the Reserve Banks and private-sector providers of payment services by requiring the Reserve Banks to charge fees for certain payments services listed in the act and to recover the costs of providing these services over the long run.

The Federal Reserve plays a vital role in both the nation's retail and wholesale payments systems, providing a variety of financial services to depository institutions. Retail payments are generally for relatively small-dollar amounts and often involve a depository institution's retail clients—individuals and smaller businesses. The Reserve Banks' retail services include distributing currency and coin, collecting checks, and electronically transferring funds through the automated clearinghouse system. By contrast, wholesale payments are generally for large-dollar amounts and often involve a depository institution's large corporate customers or counterparties, including other financial institutions. The Reserve Banks' wholesale services include electronically transferring funds through the Fedwire Funds Service and transferring securities issued by the U.S. government, its agencies, and certain other entities through the Fedwire Securities Service. Because of the large amounts of funds that move through the Reserve Banks every day, the System has policies and procedures to limit the risk to the Reserve Banks from a depository institution's failure to make or settle its payments.

The Federal Reserve Banks began a multi-year restructuring of their check operations in 2003 as part of a long-term strategy to respond to the declining use of checks by consumers and businesses and the greater use of electronics in check processing. The Reserve Banks will have reduced the number of full-service check processing locations from 45 in 2003 to 4 by early 2011.[67]

Structure

The Federal Reserve System has both private and public components, and can make decisions without the permission of Congress or the President of the U.S.[13] The System does not require public funding, and derives its authority and purpose from the Federal Reserve Act passed by Congress in 1913. The four main components of the Federal Reserve System are (1) the Board of Governors, (2) the Federal Open Market Committee, (3) the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, and (4) the member banks throughout the country.

Board of Governors

The seven-member Board of Governors is a federal agency. It is charged with the overseeing of the 12 District Reserve Banks and setting national monetary policy. It also supervises and regulates the U.S. banking system in general.[68] Governors are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for staggered 14-year terms.[45] One term begins every two years, on February 1 of even-numbered years, and members serving a full term cannot be renominated for a second term.[69] The Board is required to make an annual report of operations to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors are appointed by the President from among the sitting Governors. They both serve a four year term and they can be renominated as many times as the President chooses, until their terms on the Board of Governors expire.[70]

List of members of the Board of Governors

The current members of the Board of Governors are as follows:[69]

Commissioner Entered office[71] Term expires
Ben Bernanke
(Chairman)
February 1, 2006 January 31, 2020
January 31, 2014 (as Chairman)
Janet Yellen
(Vice Chairman)
October 4, 2010 January 31, 2024
October 4, 2014 (as Vice Chairman)
Elizabeth A. Duke August 5, 2008 January 31, 2012
Daniel Tarullo January 28, 2009 January 31, 2022
Sarah Bloom Raskin October 4, 2010 January 31, 2016
Vacant —— January 31, 2014
Vacant —— January 31, 2018

Nominations

In late December, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated two individuals to fill the vacant seats on the board, Jeremy Stein, a Harvard University finance professor and a Democrat, and Jerome Powell, formerly of Dillon Read, Bankers Trust[72] and The Carlyle Group[73] and a Republican. Both candidates also have Treasury Department experience in the Obama and George H.W. Bush administrations respectively.[72]

"Obama administration officials regrouped to identify Fed candidates after Peter Diamond, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, withdrew his nomination to the board in June [2011] in the face of Republican opposition. Richard Clarida, a potential nominee who was a Treasury official under George W. Bush, pulled out of consideration in August [2011]", one account of the December nominations noted.[74] The two other Obama nominees in 2011, Yellen and Raskin,[75] were confirmed in September.[76] One of the vacancies was created in 2011 with the resignation of Kevin Warsh, who took office in 2006 to fill the unexpired term ending January 31, 2018 and resigned his position effective March 31, 2011.[77][78]

Federal Open Market Committee

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of 12 members, seven from the Board of Governors and 5 of the regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents. The FOMC oversees open market operations, the principal tool of national monetary policy. These operations affect the amount of Federal Reserve balances available to depository institutions, thereby influencing overall monetary and credit conditions. The FOMC also directs operations undertaken by the Federal Reserve in foreign exchange markets. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is a permanent member of the FOMC, while the rest of the bank presidents rotate at two- and three-year intervals. All Regional Reserve Bank presidents contribute to the committee's assessment of the economy and of policy options, but only the five presidents who are then members of the FOMC vote on policy decisions. The FOMC determines its own internal organization and, by tradition, elects the Chairman of the Board of Governors as its chairman and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as its vice chairman. It is informal policy within the FOMC for the Board of Governors and the New York Federal Reserve Bank president to vote with the Chairman of the FOMC; anyone who is not an expert on monetary policy traditionally votes with the chairman as well; and in any vote no more than two FOMC members can dissent.[79] Formal meetings typically are held eight times each year in Washington, D.C. Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents also participate in Committee deliberations and discussion. The FOMC generally meets eight times a year in telephone consultations and other meetings are held when needed.[80]

Federal Reserve Banks

There are 12 Federal Reserve Banks located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. Each reserve Bank is responsible for member banks located in its district. The size of each district was set based upon the population distribution of the United States when the Federal Reserve Act was passed. Each regional Bank has a president, who is the chief executive officer of their Bank. Each regional Reserve Bank's president is nominated by their Bank's board of directors, but the nomination is contingent upon approval by the Board of Governors. Presidents serve five year terms and may be reappointed.[81]

Each regional Bank's board consists of nine members. Members are broken down into three classes: A, B, and C. There are three board members in each class. Class A members are chosen by the regional Bank's shareholders, and are intended to represent member banks' interests. Member banks are divided into three categories large, medium, and small. Each category elects one of the three class A board members. Class B board members are also nominated by the region's member banks, but class B board members are supposed to represent the interests of the public. Lastly, class C board members are nominated by the Board of Governors, and are also intended to represent the interests of the public.[82]

A member bank is a private institution and owns stock in its regional Federal Reserve Bank. All nationally chartered banks hold stock in one of the Federal Reserve Banks. State chartered banks may choose to be members (and hold stock in their regional Federal Reserve bank), upon meeting certain standards. About 38% of U.S. banks are members of their regional Federal Reserve Bank.[83] The amount of stock a member bank must own is equal to 3% of its combined capital and surplus.[84][85] However, holding stock in a Federal Reserve bank is not like owning stock in a publicly traded company. These stocks cannot be sold or traded, and member banks do not control the Federal Reserve Bank as a result of owning this stock. The charter and organization of each Federal Reserve Bank is established by law and cannot be altered by the member banks. Member banks, do however, elect six of the nine members of the Federal Reserve Banks' boards of directors.[45][86] From the profits of the Regional Bank of which it is a member, a member bank receives a dividend equal to 6% of their purchased stock.[13] The remainder of the regional Federal Reserve Banks' profits is given over to the United States Treasury Department. In 2009, the Federal Reserve Banks distributed $1.4 billion in dividends to member banks and returned $47 billion to the U.S. Treasury.[87]

Legal status of regional Federal Reserve Banks

The Federal Reserve Banks have an intermediate legal status, with some features of private corporations and some features of public federal agencies. The United States has an interest in the Federal Reserve Banks as tax-exempt federally-created instrumentalities whose profits belong to the federal government, but this interest is not proprietary.[88] In Lewis v. United States,[89] the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated that: "The Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the FTCA [the Federal Tort Claims Act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations." The opinion went on to say, however, that: "The Reserve Banks have properly been held to be federal instrumentalities for some purposes." Another relevant decision is Scott v. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City,[88] in which the distinction is made between Federal Reserve Banks, which are federally-created instrumentalities, and the Board of Governors, which is a federal agency.

Regarding the structural relationship between the twelve Federal Reserve banks and the various commercial (member) banks:

[ . . . ] the "ownership" of the Reserve Banks by the commercial banks is symbolic; they do not exercise the proprietary control associated with the concept of ownership nor share, beyond the statutory dividend, in Reserve Bank "profits." [ . . .] Bank ownership and election at the base are therefore devoid of substantive significance, despite the superficial appearance of private bank control that the formal arrangement creates.[90]

Member banks

According to the web site for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, "[m]ore than one-third of U.S. commercial banks are members of the Federal Reserve System. National banks must be members; state chartered banks may join by meeting certain requirements."[91]

Accountability

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve banks, and the individual member banks undergo regular audits by the GAO and an outside auditor. GAO audits are limited and do not cover "most of the Fed’s monetary policy actions or decisions, including discount window lending (direct loans to financial institutions), open-market operations and any other transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee" ...[nor may the GAO audit] "dealings with foreign governments and other central banks." [92] Various statutory changes, including the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, have been proposed to broaden the scope of the audits. Bloomberg L.P. News brought a lawsuit against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to force the Board to reveal the identities of firms for which it has provided guarantees.[93] Bloomberg, L.P. won at the trial court level,[94] and as of early September 2010 the case is on appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[95]

Monetary policy

The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. What happens to money and credit affects interest rates (the cost of credit) and the performance of an economy. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve authority to set monetary policy in the United States.[96][97]

Interbank lending is the basis of policy

The Federal Reserve sets monetary policy by influencing the Federal funds rate, which is the rate of interbank lending of excess reserves. The rate that banks charge each other for these loans is determined in the interbank market but the Federal Reserve influences this rate through the three "tools" of monetary policy described in the Tools section below.

The Federal Funds rate is a short-term interest rate the FOMC focuses on directly. This rate ultimately affects the longer-term interest rates throughout the economy. A summary of the basis and implementation of monetary policy is stated by the Federal Reserve:

The Federal Reserve implements U.S. monetary policy by affecting conditions in the market for balances that depository institutions hold at the Federal Reserve Banks...By conducting open market operations, imposing reserve requirements, permitting depository institutions to hold contractual clearing balances, and extending credit through its discount window facility, the Federal Reserve exercises considerable control over the demand for and supply of Federal Reserve balances and the federal funds rate. Through its control of the federal funds rate, the Federal Reserve is able to foster financial and monetary conditions consistent with its monetary policy objectives.[98]

This influences the economy through its effect on the quantity of reserves that banks use to make loans. Policy actions that add reserves to the banking system encourage lending at lower interest rates thus stimulating growth in money, credit, and the economy. Policy actions that absorb reserves work in the opposite direction. The Fed's task is to supply enough reserves to support an adequate amount of money and credit, avoiding the excesses that result in inflation and the shortages that stifle economic growth.[99]

Tools

There are three main tools of monetary policy that the Federal Reserve uses to influence the amount of reserves in private banks:[96]

Tool Description
Open market operations Purchases and sales of U.S. Treasury and federal agency securities—the Federal Reserve's principal tool for implementing monetary policy. The Federal Reserve's objective for open market operations has varied over the years. During the 1980s, the focus gradually shifted toward attaining a specified level of the federal funds rate (the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans of federal funds, which are the reserves held by banks at the Fed), a process that was largely complete by the end of the decade.[100]
Discount rate The interest rate charged to commercial banks and other depository institutions on loans they receive from their regional Federal Reserve Bank's lending facility—the discount window.[101]
Reserve requirements The amount of funds that a depository institution must hold in reserve against specified deposit liabilities.[102]

Federal funds rate and open market operations

The Federal Reserve System implements monetary policy largely by targeting the federal funds rate. This is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans of federal funds, which are the reserves held by banks at the Fed. This rate is actually determined by the market and is not explicitly mandated by the Fed. The Fed therefore tries to align the effective federal funds rate with the targeted rate by adding or subtracting from the money supply through open market operations. The Federal Reserve System usually adjusts the federal funds rate target by 0.25% or 0.50% at a time.

Open market operations allow the Federal Reserve to increase or decrease the amount of money in the banking system as necessary to balance the Federal Reserve's dual mandates. Open market operations are done through the sale and purchase of United States Treasury security, sometimes called "Treasury bills" or more informally "T-bills" or "Treasuries". The Federal Reserve buys Treasury bills from its primary dealers. The purchase of these securities affects the federal funds rate, because primary dealers have accounts at depository institutions.[103]

The Federal Reserve education website describes open market operations as follows:[97]

Open market operations involve the buying and selling of U.S. government securities (federal agency and mortgage-backed). The term 'open market' means that the Fed doesn't decide on its own which securities dealers it will do business with on a particular day. Rather, the choice emerges from an 'open market' in which the various securities dealers that the Fed does business with—the primary dealers—compete on the basis of price. Open market operations are flexible and thus, the most frequently used tool of monetary policy.

Open market operations are the primary tool used to regulate the supply of bank reserves. This tool consists of Federal Reserve purchases and sales of financial instruments, usually securities issued by the U.S. Treasury, Federal agencies and government-sponsored enterprises. Open market operations are carried out by the Domestic Trading Desk of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York under direction from the FOMC. The transactions are undertaken with primary dealers.

The Fed's goal in trading the securities is to affect the federal funds rate, the rate at which banks borrow reserves from each other. When the Fed wants to increase reserves, it buys securities and pays for them by making a deposit to the account maintained at the Fed by the primary dealer's bank. When the Fed wants to reduce reserves, it sells securities and collects from those accounts. Most days, the Fed does not want to increase or decrease reserves permanently so it usually engages in transactions reversed within a day or two. That means that a reserve injection today could be withdrawn tomorrow morning, only to be renewed at some level several hours later. These short-term transactions are called repurchase agreements (repos) – the dealer sells the Fed a security and agrees to buy it back at a later date.
Repurchase agreements

To smooth temporary or cyclical changes in the money supply, the desk engages in repurchase agreements (repos) with its primary dealers. Repos are essentially secured, short-term lending by the Fed. On the day of the transaction, the Fed deposits money in a primary dealer's reserve account, and receives the promised securities as collateral. When the transaction matures, the process unwinds: the Fed returns the collateral and charges the primary dealer's reserve account for the principal and accrued interest. The term of the repo (the time between settlement and maturity) can vary from 1 day (called an overnight repo) to 65 days.[104]

Discount rate

The Federal Reserve System also directly sets the "discount rate", which is the interest rate for "discount window lending", overnight loans that member banks borrow directly from the Fed. This rate is generally set at a rate close to 100 basis points above the target federal funds rate. The idea is to encourage banks to seek alternative funding before using the "discount rate" option.[105] The equivalent operation by the European Central Bank is referred to as the "marginal lending facility".[106]

Both the discount rate and the federal funds rate influence the prime rate, which is usually about 3 percent higher than the federal funds rate.

Reserve requirements

Another instrument of monetary policy adjustment employed by the Federal Reserve System is the fractional reserve requirement, also known as the required reserve ratio.[107] The required reserve ratio sets the balance that the Federal Reserve System requires a depository institution to hold in the Federal Reserve Banks,[98] which depository institutions trade in the federal funds market discussed above.[108] The required reserve ratio is set by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.[109] The reserve requirements have changed over time and some of the history of these changes is published by the Federal Reserve.[110]

Reserve Requirements in the U.S. Federal Reserve System[102]
Liability Type Requirement
Percentage of liabilities Effective date
Net transaction accounts
$0 to $10.7 million 0 12/30/10
More than $10.7 million to $58.8 million 3 12/30/10
More than $58.8 million 10 12/30/10

Nonpersonal time deposits 0 12/27/90

Eurocurrency liabilities 0 12/27/90

As a response to the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve now makes interest payments on depository institutions' required and excess reserve balances. The payment of interest on excess reserves gives the central bank greater opportunity to address credit market conditions while maintaining the federal funds rate close to the target rate set by the FOMC.[111]

New facilities

In order to address problems related to the subprime mortgage crisis and United States housing bubble, several new tools have been created. The first new tool, called the Term Auction Facility, was added on December 12, 2007. It was first announced as a temporary tool[112] but there have been suggestions that this new tool may remain in place for a prolonged period of time.[113] Creation of the second new tool, called the Term Securities Lending Facility, was announced on March 11, 2008.[114] The main difference between these two facilities is that the Term Auction Facility is used to inject cash into the banking system whereas the Term Securities Lending Facility is used to inject treasury securities into the banking system.[115] Creation of the third tool, called the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), was announced on March 16, 2008.[116] The PDCF was a fundamental change in Federal Reserve policy because now the Fed is able to lend directly to primary dealers, which was previously against Fed policy.[117] The differences between these 3 new facilities is described by the Federal Reserve:[118]

The Term Auction Facility program offers term funding to depository institutions via a bi-weekly auction, for fixed amounts of credit. The Term Securities Lending Facility will be an auction for a fixed amount of lending of Treasury general collateral in exchange for OMO-eligible and AAA/Aaa rated private-label residential mortgage-backed securities. The Primary Dealer Credit Facility now allows eligible primary dealers to borrow at the existing Discount Rate for up to 120 days.

Some of the measures taken by the Federal Reserve to address this mortgage crisis have not been used since The Great Depression.[119] The Federal Reserve gives a brief summary of these new facilities:[120]

As the economy has slowed in the last nine months and credit markets have become unstable, the Federal Reserve has taken a number of steps to help address the situation. These steps have included the use of traditional monetary policy tools at the macroeconomic level as well as measures at the level of specific markets to provide additional liquidity. The Federal Reserve's response has continued to evolve since pressure on credit markets began to surface last summer, but all these measures derive from the Fed's traditional open market operations and discount window tools by extending the term of transactions, the type of collateral, or eligible borrowers.

A fourth facility, the Term Deposit Facility, was announced December 9, 2009, and approved April 30, 2010, with an effective date of Jun 4, 2010.[121] The Term Deposit Facility allows Reserve Banks to offer term deposits to institutions that are eligible to receive earnings on their balances at Reserve Banks. Term deposits are intended to facilitate the implementation of monetary policy by providing a tool by which the Federal Reserve can manage the aggregate quantity of reserve balances held by depository institutions. Funds placed in term deposits are removed from the accounts of participating institutions for the life of the term deposit and thus drain reserve balances from the banking system.

Term auction facility

The Term Auction Facility is a program in which the Federal Reserve auctions term funds to depository institutions.[112] The creation of this facility was announced by the Federal Reserve on December 12, 2007 and was done in conjunction with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets.[122] The reason it was created is because banks were not lending funds to one another and banks in need of funds were refusing to go to the discount window. Banks were not lending money to each other because there was a fear that the loans would not be paid back. Banks refused to go to the discount window because it is usually associated with the stigma of bank failure.[123][124][125] [126] Under the Term Auction Facility, the identity of the banks in need of funds is protected in order to avoid the stigma of bank failure.[127] Foreign exchange swap lines with the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank were opened so the banks in Europe could have access to U.S. dollars.[127] Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke briefly described this facility to the U.S. House of Representatives on January 17, 2008:

the Federal Reserve recently unveiled a term auction facility, or TAF, through which prespecified amounts of discount window credit can be auctioned to eligible borrowers. The goal of the TAF is to reduce the incentive for banks to hoard cash and increase their willingness to provide credit to households and firms...TAF auctions will continue as long as necessary to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets, and we will continue to work closely and cooperatively with other central banks to address market strains that could hamper the achievement of our broader economic objectives.[128]

It is also described in the Term Auction Facility FAQ[112]

The TAF is a credit facility that allows a depository institution to place a bid for an advance from its local Federal Reserve Bank at an interest rate that is determined as the result of an auction. By allowing the Federal Reserve to inject term funds through a broader range of counterparties and against a broader range of collateral than open market operations, this facility could help ensure that liquidity provisions can be disseminated efficiently even when the unsecured interbank markets are under stress. In short, the TAF will auction term funds of approximately one-month maturity. All depository institutions that are judged to be in sound financial condition by their local Reserve Bank and that are eligible to borrow at the discount window are also eligible to participate in TAF auctions. All TAF credit must be fully collateralized. Depositories may pledge the broad range of collateral that is accepted for other Federal Reserve lending programs to secure TAF credit. The same collateral values and margins applicable for other Federal Reserve lending programs will also apply for the TAF.
Term securities lending facility

The Term Securities Lending Facility is a 28-day facility that will offer Treasury general collateral to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's primary dealers in exchange for other program-eligible collateral. It is intended to promote liquidity in the financing markets for Treasury and other collateral and thus to foster the functioning of financial markets more generally.[129] Like the Term Auction Facility, the TSLF was done in conjunction with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank. The resource allows dealers to switch debt that is less liquid for U.S. government securities that are easily tradable. It is anticipated by Federal Reserve officials that the primary dealers, which include Goldman Sachs Group. Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, will lend the Treasuries on to other firms in return for cash. That will help the dealers finance their balance sheets. The currency swap lines with the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank were increased.

Primary dealer credit facility

The Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) is an overnight loan facility that will provide funding to primary dealers in exchange for a specified range of eligible collateral and is intended to foster the functioning of financial markets more generally.[118] This new facility marks a fundamental change in Federal Reserve policy because now primary dealers can borrow directly from the Fed when this previously was not permitted.

Interest on reserves

As of October 2008, the Federal Reserve banks will pay interest on reserve balances (required & excess) held by depository institutions. The rate is set at the lowest federal funds rate during the reserve maintenance period of an institution, less 75bp.[130] As of October 23, 2008, the Fed has lowered the spread to a mere 35 bp.[131]

Term deposit facility

The Term Deposit Facility is a program through which the Federal Reserve Banks will offer interest-bearing term deposits to eligible institutions. By removing "excess deposits" from participating banks, the overall level of reserves available for lending is reduced, which should result in increased market interest rates, acting as a brake on economic activity and inflation. The Federal Reserve has stated that:

Term deposits will be one of several tools that the Federal Reserve could employ to drain reserves when policymakers judge that it is appropriate to begin moving to a less accommodative stance of monetary policy. The development of the TDF is a matter of prudent planning and has no implication for the near-term conduct of monetary policy.[132]

The Federal Reserve initially authorized up to five "small-value offerings are designed to ensure the effectiveness of TDF operations and to provide eligible institutions with an opportunity to gain familiarity with term deposit procedures."[133] After three of the offering auctions were successfully completed, it was announced that small-value auctions would continue on an on-going basis.[134]

The Term Deposit Facility is essentially a tool available to reverse the efforts that have been employed to provide liquidity to the financial markets and to reduce the amount of capital available to the economy. As stated in Bloomberg News:

Policy makers led by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are preparing for the day when they will have to start siphoning off more than $1 trillion in excess reserves from the banking system to contain inflation. The Fed is charting an eventual return to normal monetary policy, even as a weakening near-term outlook has raised the possibility it may expand its balance sheet.[135]

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, testifying before House Committee on Financial Services, described the Term Deposit Facility and other facilities to Congress in the following terms:

Most importantly, in October 2008 the Congress gave the Federal Reserve statutory authority to pay interest on balances that banks hold at the Federal Reserve Banks. By increasing the interest rate on banks' reserves, the Federal Reserve will be able to put significant upward pressure on all short-term interest rates, as banks will not supply short-term funds to the money markets at rates significantly below what they can earn by holding reserves at the Federal Reserve Banks. Actual and prospective increases in short-term interest rates will be reflected in turn in higher longer-term interest rates and in tighter financial conditions more generally....

As an additional means of draining reserves, the Federal Reserve is also developing plans to offer to depository institutions term deposits, which are roughly analogous to certificates of deposit that the institutions offer to their customers. A proposal describing a term deposit facility was recently published in the Federal Register, and the Federal Reserve is finalizing a revised proposal in light of the public comments that have been received. After a revised proposal is reviewed by the Board, we expect to be able to conduct test transactions this spring and to have the facility available if necessary thereafter. The use of reverse repos and the deposit facility would together allow the Federal Reserve to drain hundreds of billions of dollars of reserves from the banking system quite quickly, should it choose to do so.

When these tools are used to drain reserves from the banking system, they do so by replacing bank reserves with other liabilities; the asset side and the overall size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet remain unchanged. If necessary, as a means of applying monetary restraint, the Federal Reserve also has the option of redeeming or selling securities. The redemption or sale of securities would have the effect of reducing the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet as well as further reducing the quantity of reserves in the banking system. Restoring the size and composition of the balance sheet to a more normal configuration is a longer-term objective of our policies. In any case, the sequencing of steps and the combination of tools that the Federal Reserve uses as it exits from its currently very accommodative policy stance will depend on economic and financial developments and on our best judgments about how to meet the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability.

In sum, in response to severe threats to our economy, the Federal Reserve created a series of special lending facilities to stabilize the financial system and encourage the resumption of private credit flows to American families and businesses. As market conditions and the economic outlook have improved, these programs have been terminated or are being phased out. The Federal Reserve also promoted economic recovery through sharp reductions in its target for the federal funds rate and through large-scale purchases of securities. The economy continues to require the support of accommodative monetary policies. However, we have been working to ensure that we have the tools to reverse, at the appropriate time, the currently very high degree of monetary stimulus. We have full confidence that, when the time comes, we will be ready to do so.[136]
Asset Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility

The Asset Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (ABCPMMMFLF) was also called the AMLF. The Facility began operations on September 22, 2008, and was closed on February 1, 2010.[137]

All U.S. depository institutions, bank holding companies (parent companies or U.S. broker-dealer affiliates), or U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks were eligible to borrow under this facility pursuant to the discretion of the FRBB.

Collateral eligible for pledge under the Facility was required to meet the following criteria:

Commercial Paper Funding Facility

The Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF): on October 7, 2008 the Federal Reserve further expanded the collateral it will loan against, to include commercial paper. The action made the Fed a crucial source of credit for non-financial businesses in addition to commercial banks and investment firms. Fed officials said they'll buy as much of the debt as necessary to get the market functioning again. They refused to say how much that might be, but they noted that around $1.3 trillion worth of commercial paper would qualify. There was $1.61 trillion in outstanding commercial paper, seasonally adjusted, on the market as of October 1, 2008, according to the most recent data from the Fed. That was down from $1.70 trillion in the previous week. Since the summer of 2007, the market has shrunk from more than $2.2 trillion.[138] This program lent out a total $738 billion before it was closed. Forty-five out of 81 of the companies participating in this program were foreign firms. Research shows that Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients were twice as likely to participate in the program than other commercial paper issuers who did not take advantage of the TARP bailout. The Fed incurred no losses from the CPFF.[139]

Quantitative policy

A little-used tool of the Federal Reserve is the quantitative policy. With that the Federal Reserve actually buys back corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities held by banks or other financial institutions. This in effect puts money back into the financial institutions and allows them to make loans and conduct normal business. The Federal Reserve Board used this policy in the early 1990s when the U.S. economy experienced the savings and loan crisis.

The bursting of the United States housing bubble prompted the Fed to buy mortgage-backed securities for the first time in November 2008. Over six weeks, a total of $1.25 trillion were purchased in order stabilize the housing market, about one-fifth of all U.S. government-backed mortgages.[140]

Measurement of economic variables

The Federal Reserve records and publishes large amounts of data. A few websites where data is published are at the Board of Governors Economic Data and Research page,[141] the Board of Governors statistical releases and historical data page,[142] and at the St. Louis Fed's FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) page.[143] The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) examines many economic indicators prior to determining monetary policy.[144]

Some criticism involves economic data compiled by the Fed. The Fed sponsors much of the monetary economics research in the U.S., and Lawrence H. White objects that this makes it less likely for researchers to publish findings challenging the status quo.[145]

Net worth of households and nonprofit organizations

The net worth of households and nonprofit organizations in the United States is published by the Federal Reserve in a report titled, Flow of Funds.[146] At the end of fiscal year 2008, this value was $51.5 trillion.

Money supply

The most common measures are named M0 (narrowest), M1, M2, and M3. In the United States they are defined by the Federal Reserve as follows:

Measure Definition
M0 The total of all physical currency, plus accounts at the central bank that can be exchanged for physical currency.
M1 M0 + those portions of M0 held as reserves or vault cash + the amount in demand accounts ("checking" or "current" accounts).
M2 M1 + most savings accounts, money market accounts, and small denomination time deposits (certificates of deposit of under $100,000).
M3 M2 + all other CDs, deposits of eurodollars and repurchase agreements.

The Federal Reserve stopped publishing M3 statistics in March 2006, saying that the data cost a lot to collect but did not provide significantly useful information.[147] The other three money supply measures continue to be provided in detail.

Personal consumption expenditures price index

The Personal consumption expenditures price index, also referred to as simply the PCE price index, is used as one measure of the value of money. It is a United States-wide indicator of the average increase in prices for all domestic personal consumption. Using a variety of data including U.S. Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index prices, it is derived from the largest component of the Gross Domestic Product in the BEA's National Income and Product Accounts, personal consumption expenditures.

One of the Fed's main roles is to maintain price stability, which means that the Fed's ability to keep a low inflation rate is a long-term measure of the their success.[148] Although the Fed is not required to maintain inflation within a specific range, their long run target for the growth of the PCE price index is between 1.5 and 2 percent.[149] There has been debate among policy makers as to whether or not the Federal Reserve should have a specific inflation targeting policy.[150][151][152]

Inflation and the economy

There are two types of inflation that are closely tied to each other. Monetary inflation is an increase in the money supply. Price inflation is a sustained increase in the general level of prices, which is equivalent to a decline in the value or purchasing power of money. If the supply of money and credit increases too rapidly over many months (monetary inflation), the result will usually be price inflation. Price inflation does not always increase in direct proportion to monetary inflation; it is also affected by the velocity of money and other factors. With price inflation, a dollar buys less and less over time.[97]

The effects of monetary and price inflation include:[97]

In his 1995 book The Case Against the Fed, economist Murray N. Rothbard argues that price inflation is caused only by an increase in the money supply, and only banks increase the money supply, then banks, including the Federal Reserve, are the only source of inflation.

Adherents of the Austrian School of economic theory blame the economic crisis in the late 2000s[154] on the Federal Reserve's policy, particularly under the leadership of Alan Greenspan, of credit expansion through historically low interest rates starting in 2001, which they claim enabled the United States housing bubble.

Most mainstream economists favor a low, steady rate of inflation.[155] Low (as opposed to zero or negative) inflation may reduce the severity of economic recessions by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn, and reduce the risk that a liquidity trap prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy.[156] The task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to monetary authorities.

Unemployment rate

One of the stated goals of monetary policy is maximum employment. The unemployment rate statistics are collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and like the PCE price index are used as a barometer of the nation's economic health, and thus as a measure of the success of an administration's economic policies. Since 1980, both parties have made progressive changes in the basis for calculating unemployment, so that the numbers now quoted cannot be compared directly to the corresponding rates from earlier administrations, or to the rest of the world.[157]

Budget

The Federal Reserve is self-funded. The vast majority (90%+) of Fed revenues come from open market operations, specifically the interest on the portfolio of Treasury securities as well as "capital gains/losses" that may arise from the buying/selling of the securities and their derivatives as part of Open Market Operations. The balance of revenues come from sales of financial services (check and electronic payment processing) and discount window loans.[158] The Board of Governors (Federal Reserve Board) creates a budget report once per year for Congress. There are two reports with budget information. The one that lists the complete balance statements with income and expenses as well as the net profit or loss is the large report simply titled, "Annual Report". It also includes data about employment throughout the system. The other report, which explains in more detail the expenses of the different aspects of the whole system, is called "Annual Report: Budget Review". These are comprehensive reports with many details and can be found at the Board of Governors' website under the section "Reports to Congress"[159]

Net worth

Balance sheet

One of the keys to understanding the Federal Reserve is the Federal Reserve balance sheet (or balance statement). In accordance with Section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System publishes once each week the "Consolidated Statement of Condition of All Federal Reserve Banks" showing the condition of each Federal Reserve bank and a consolidated statement for all Federal Reserve banks. The Board of Governors requires that excess earnings of the Reserve Banks be transferred to the Treasury as interest on Federal Reserve notes.[160][161]

Below is the balance sheet as of July 6, 2011 (in billions of dollars):

NOTE: The Fed balance sheet shown in this article has assets, liabilities and net equity that do not add up correctly. The Fed balance sheet is missing the item "Reserve Balances with Federal Reserve Banks" which would make the balance sheet balance.

ASSETS:
Gold Stock 11.04
Special Drawing Rights Certificate Acct. 5.20
Treasury Currency Outstanding (Coin) 43.98
Securities Held Outright 2647.94
   U.S. Treasury Securities 1623.78
      Bills 18.42
      Notes and Bonds, nominal 1530.79
      Notes and Bonds, inflation-indexed 65.52
      Inflation Compensation 9.04
   Federal Agency Debt Securities 115.30
   Mortgage-Backed Securities 908.85
Repurchase Agreements 0
Loans 12.74
Primary Credit 12
Secondary Credit 0
Seasonal Credit 53
   Credit Extended to AIG Inc. 0
   Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility 12.67
   Other Credit Extended 0
Commercial Paper Funding Facility LLC 0
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane LLC, Maiden Lane II LLC, and Maiden Lane III LLC 60.32
Preferred Interest in AIG Life-Insurance Subsidiaries 0
Net Holdings of TALF LLC 0.75
Float -1.05
Central Bank Liquidity Swaps 0
Other Assets 133.56
Total Assets 2914.51
LIABILITIES:
Currency in Circulation 1031.30
Reverse repurchase agreements 68.09
Deposits 91.12
   Term Deposits 0
   U.S. Treasury, general account 76.56
   U.S. Treasury, supplementary financing account 5
   Foreign official 0.17
   Service Related 2.53
   Other Deposits 6.85
Funds from AIG, held as agent 0
Other Liabilities 73.06
Total liabilities 1263.73
CAPITAL (AKA Net Equity)
Capital Paid In 26.71
Surplus 25.91
Other Capital 4.16
Total Capital 56.78
MEMO (off-balance-sheet items)
Marketable securities held in custody for foreign official and international accounts 3445.42
   U.S. Treasury Securities 2708
   Federal Agency Securities 737.31
Securities lent to dealers 30.46
   Overnight 30.46
   Term 0


Analyzing the Federal Reserve's balance sheet reveals a number of facts:

In addition, the balance sheet also indicates which assets are held as collateral against Federal Reserve Notes.

Federal Reserve Notes and Collateral
Federal Reserve Notes Outstanding 1128.63
   Less: Notes held by F.R. Banks 200.90
   Federal Reserve notes to be collateralized 927.73
Collateral held against Federal Reserve notes 927.73
   Gold certificate account 11.04
   Special drawing rights certificate account 5.20
   U.S. Treasury, agency debt, and mortgage-backed securities pledged 911.50
   Other assets pledged 0

See also

References

  1. ^ "Open Market Operations". Federal Reserve. http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/fundsrate.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  2. ^ a b c "Born of a panic: Forming the Federal Reserve System". The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. August 1988. http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/88-08/reg888a.cfm. 
  3. ^ a b c BoG 2006, pp. 1 "Just before the founding of the Federal Reserve, the nation was plagued with financial crises. At times, these crises led to 'panics,' in which people raced to their banks to withdraw their deposits. A particularly severe panic in 1907 resulted in bank runs that wreaked havoc on the fragile banking system and ultimately led Congress in 1913 to write the Federal Reserve Act. Initially created to address these banking panics, the Federal Reserve is now charged with a number of broader responsibilities, including fostering a sound banking system and a healthy economy."
  4. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 1–2
  5. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 1 "It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. Over the years, its role in banking and the economy has expanded."
  6. ^ Patrick, Sue C. (1993). Reform of the Federal Reserve System in the Early 1930's: The Politics of Money and Banking. Garland. ISBN 9780815309703. 
  7. ^ http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/money_12848.htm "The Congress established two key objectives for monetary policy--maximum employment and stable prices--in the Federal Reserve Act. These objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate"
  8. ^ a b "FRB: Mission". Federalreserve.gov. 2009-11-06. http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/mission/default.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
  9. ^ BoG 2005, pp. v (See structure)
  10. ^ "Federal Reserve Districs". Federal Reserve Online. http://www.federalreserveonline.org/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  11. ^ Advisory Councils – http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/advisorydefault.htm
  12. ^ "Coins and Currency". US Dept of Treasury website. 2011-08-24. http://www.treas.gov/topics/currency/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  13. ^ a b c "FAQ - Who owns the Federal Reserve?". Federal Reserve website. http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm. 
  14. ^ Lapidos, Juliet (2008-09-19). "Is the Fed Private or Public?". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2200411/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  15. ^ Toma, Mark (February 1, 2010). "Federal Reserve System". EH. Net Encyclopedia. Economic History Association. http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/toma.reserve. Retrieved February 27, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Who owns the Federal Reserve Bank?". FactCheck. March 31, 2008. http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/who_owns_the_federal_reserve_bank.html. Retrieved February 27, 2011. 
  17. ^ Appelbaum, Binyamin (March 22, 2011). "Fed Had Profit From Investments of $82 Billion Last Year". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/business/economy/23fed.html?_r=1&ref=business. Retrieved March 22, 2011. 
  18. ^ a b c Flamme, Karen. "1995 Annual Report: A Brief History of Our Nation's Paper Money". Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/federalreserve/annual/1995/history.html. Retrieved August 26, 2010. 
  19. ^ Grubb, Farley (March 30, 2006). "Benjamin Franklin And the Birth of a Paper Money Economy" (PDF). Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. http://www.philadelphiafed.org/publications/economic-education/ben-franklin-and-paper-money-economy.pdf. Retrieved August 26, 2010. 
  20. ^ http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=336 "Eventually, the paper money was received for taxes at the rate of £27 in bills of credit for £1 in silver, and destroyed."
  21. ^ "The Currency Act of 1764". The Royal Colony of South Carolina. carolana.com. Retrieved January 3, 2012. "This act was not repealed prior to the American Revolution. It had very dire consequences for both North Carolina and South Carolina, both of whose economies were already shaky. The Currency Act was, therefore, a great hardship to trade within and without the colonies and, equally important, proof that the British government put the interests of mother country merchants ahead of theirs. ... The entire text of the Act is provided below." "...and whereas such bills of credit have greatly depreciated in their value, by means whereof debts have been discharged with a much less value than was contracted for, to the great discouragement and prejudice of the trade and commerce of his Majesty's subjects...no act, order, resolution, or vote of assembly, in any of his Majesty's colonies or plantations in America, shall be made, for creating or issuing any paper bills, or bills of credit of any kind or denomination whatsoever, declaring such paper bills, or bills of credit, to be legal tender in payment of any bargains, contracts, debts, dues, or demands whatsoever; and every clause or provision which shall hereafter be inserted in any act, order, resolution, or vote of assembly, contrary to this act, shall be null and void."
  22. ^ http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_816.asp "Mr. Govr. MORRIS moved to strike out "and emit bills on the credit of the U. States"-If the United States had credit such bills would be unnecessary: if they had not, unjust & useless. ... On the motion for striking out N. H. ay. Mas. ay. Ct ay. N. J. no. Pa. ay. Del. ay. Md. no. Va. ay. N. C. ay. S. C. ay. Geo. ay."
  23. ^ US Constitution Article 1, Section 10. "no state shall ..emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;"
  24. ^ British Parliamentary reports on international finance: the Cunliffe Committee and the Macmillan Committee reports. Ayer Publishing. 1978. ISBN 9780405112126. http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&id=EkUTaZofJYEC&dq=British+Parliamentary+reports+on+international+finance&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=kHxssmPNow&sig=UyopnsiJSHwk152davCIyQAMVdw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA25,M1. "description of the founding of Bank of England: 'Its foundation in 1694 arose out the difficulties of the Government of the day in securing subscriptions to State loans. Its primary purpose was to raise and lend money to the State and in consideration of this service it received under its Charter and various Act of Parliament, certain privileges of issuing bank notes. The corporation commenced, with an assured life of twelve years after which the Government had the right to annul its Charter on giving one year's notice. Subsequent extensions of this period coincided generally with the grant of additional loans to the State'" 
  25. ^ a b c Johnson, Roger (December 1999). "Historical Beginnings... The Federal Reserve". Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. p. 8. http://www.bos.frb.org/about/pubs/begin.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-23. 
  26. ^ Herrick, Myron (March 1908). "The Panic of 1907 and Some of Its Lessons". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7162(190803)31%3C8%3ATPO1AS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  27. ^ a b Flaherty, Edward (June 16, 1997, updated August 24, 2001). "A Brief History of Central Banking in the United States". Netherlands: University of Groningen. http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/usbank/bank00.htm. 
  28. ^ a b Whithouse, Michael (May 1989). "Paul Warburg's Crusade to Establish a Central Bank in the United States". The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/89-05/reg895d.cfm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  29. ^ http://www.jekyllislandhistory.com/federalreserve.shtml "For years members of the Jekyll Island Club would recount the story of the secret meeting and by the 1930s the narrative was considered a club tradition."
  30. ^ http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/historical/brookings/16703_01_0003.pdf Papers of Frank A.Vanderlip "I wish I could sit down with you and half a dozen others in the sort of conference that created the Federal Reserve Act"
  31. ^ http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FedReserve&C=3.0 "The Congressmen prepared to leave Washington for the annual Christmas recess, assured that the Conference bill would not be brought up until the following year." "It was a long-standing political courtesy that important legislation would not be acted upon during the week before Christmas, but this tradition was rudely shattered in order to perpetrate the Federal Reserve Act on the American people."
  32. ^ a b c "Paul Warburg's Crusade to Establish a Central Bank in the United States". The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=3815. 
  33. ^ a b c d "America's Unknown Enemy: Beyond Conspiracy". American Institute of Economic Research. http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/aier_on_conspiracy_04.html. 
  34. ^ "Congressional Record - House". Scribd.com. 1913-12-22. p. 1465. http://www.scribd.com/doc/17411624/Congressional-Record-Dec-22-1913-pg1465. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  35. ^ "Congressional Record - Senate". Scribd.com. 1913-12-23. p. 1468. http://www.scribd.com/doc/17234309/Congressional-Record-Dec-23-1913. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  36. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 2
  37. ^ "Federal Reserve Act". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. May 14, 2003. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080517044141/http://www.federalreserve.gov/GeneralInfo/fract/. 
  38. ^ a b BoG 2006, pp. 1
  39. ^ Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. (2002-11-21). "Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021121/default.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
  40. ^ Bernanke, Ben (2003-10-24). "Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke: At the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Conference on the Legacy of Milton and Rose Friedman's Free to Choose, Dallas, Texas" (text). http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/Speeches/2003/20031024/default.htm. 
  41. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 113
  42. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 83
  43. ^ lender of last resort, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, retrieved May 21, 2010
  44. ^ Griffin, G. Edward (2002). The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. American Media. ISBN 9780912986395. 
  45. ^ a b c "The Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy and the Economy—Everyday Economics—FRB Dallas". Dallasfed.org. http://www.dallasfed.org/educate/everyday/ev4.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  46. ^ "Press Release: Federal Reserve Board, with full support of the Treasury Department, authorizes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend up to $85 billion to the American International Group (AIG)". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. 2008-09-16. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20080916a.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  47. ^ Andrews, Edmund L.; de la Merced, Michael J.; Walsh, Mary Williams (2008-09-16). "Fed's $85 Billion Loan Rescues Insurer". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/business/17insure.html?hp. Retrieved 2008-09-17. 
  48. ^ "How Currency Gets into Circulation". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. June 2008. http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed01.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  49. ^ "Annual Production Figures". Bureau of Engraving and Printing. http://www.bep.treas.gov/uscurrency/annualproductionfigures.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  50. ^ "Federal Funds". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. August 2007. http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed15.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  51. ^ Cook, Timothy Q.; Laroche, Robert K., eds (1993). "Instruments of the Money Market". Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/special_reports/instruments_of_the_money_market/pdf/full_publication.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  52. ^ "FRB: Speech-Kohn, The Evolving Role of the Federal Reserve Banks". Federalreserve.gov. 2006-11-03. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20061103a.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  53. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions Federal Reserve System". http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-19. "The Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve Banks, and the Federal Reserve System as a whole are all subject to several levels of audit and review. Under the Federal Banking Agency Audit Act (enacted in 1978 as Public Law 95-320), which authorizes the Comptroller General of the United States to audit the Federal Reserve System, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has conducted numerous reviews of Federal Reserve activities" 
  54. ^ "Federal Reserve System Current and Future Challenges Require System wide Attention: Statement of Charles A. Bowsher". United States General Accounting Office. 1996-07-26. http://www.gao.gov/archive/1996/gg96159t.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-29.  Under the Federal Banking Agency Audit Act, 31 U.S.C. section 714(b), our audits of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve banks may not include (1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank or government, or nonprivate international financing organization; (2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters; (3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or (4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to items (1), (2), or (3). See Federal Reserve System Audits: Restrictions on GAO's Access (GAO/T-GGD-94-44), statement of Charles A. Bowsher. The real purpose of this historic "duck hunt" was to formulate a plan for U.S. banking and currency reform that Aldrich could present to Congress.
  55. ^ "About The Audit". Audit the Fed Coalition. 2009. http://www.auditthefed.com/about-the-audit/. Retrieved 2011-08-29.  Although the Fed is currently audited by outside agencies, these audits are not thorough and do not include monetary policy decisions or agreements with foreign central banks and governments. The crucial issue of Federal Reserve transparency requires an analysis of 31 USC 714, the section of U.S. Code which establishes that the Federal Reserve may be audited by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), but which simultaneously severely restricts what the GAO may in fact audit. Essentially, the GAO is only allowed to audit check-processing, currency storage and shipments, and some regulatory and bank examination functions, etc. The most important matters, which directly affect the strength of the dollar and the health of the financial system, are immune from oversight.
  56. ^ "An Open Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives". Audit the Fed Coalition. 2009. http://www.auditthefed.com/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  57. ^ Reddy, Sudeep (2009-11-23). "Congress Grows Fed Up Despite Central Bank's Push". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125876136781358287.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. The Fed's ability to influence Congress is diluted by public anger. A July 2009 Gallup Poll found only 30% Americans thought the Fed was doing a good or excellent job, a rating even lower than that for the Internal Revenue Service, which drew praise from 40%.
  58. ^ Schmidt, Robert (2009-06-05). "Fed Intends to Hire Lobbyist in Campaign to Buttress Its Image". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZjQKyLci1AM. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  59. ^ "Board Actions taken during the week ending July 25, 2009". http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h2/20090725/default.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  60. ^ "VP Linda Robertson to join Federal Reserve System". The John Hopkins University. http://gazette.jhu.edu/2009/06/08/vp-linda-robertson-to-join-federal-reserve-system/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  61. ^ Mark Calabria, Bert Ely, Congressman Ron Paul, Gilbert Schwartz (2009-06-24). Ron Paul: Bringing Transparency to the Federal Reserve. Cato Institute: FORA.tv.. Event occurs at 00:11:04. http://fora.tv/2009/06/24/Ron_Paul_Bringing_Transparency_to_the_Federal_Reserve. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  62. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 4–5
  63. ^ See example: "Advantages of Being/Becoming a State Chartered Bank". Arkansas State Bank Department. 2009-03-31. http://www.state.ar.us/bank/benefits_advantages.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  64. ^ "U.S. Code Title 12, Chapter 3, Subchapter 7, Section 301. Powers and duties of board of directors; suspension of member bank for undue use of bank credit". Law.cornell.edu. 2010-06-22. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode12/usc_sec_12_00000301----000-.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  65. ^ "U.S. Code: Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47, section 1014. Loan and credit applications generally; renewals and discounts; crop insurance". Law.cornell.edu. 2010-06-28. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1014.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  66. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 83–85
  67. ^ "Federal Reserve Board: Payments Systems". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-07-21. http://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/default.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  68. ^ 12 U.S.C. § 247.
  69. ^ a b "FRB: Board Members". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-07-20. http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/default.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  70. ^ See 12 U.S.C. § 241
  71. ^ "Membership of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1914–Present". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-08-12. http://www.federalreserve.gov/bios/boardmembership.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  72. ^ a b Goldstein, Steve, "Obama to nominate Stein, Powell to Fed board", MarketWatch, Dec. 27, 2011, 12:58 p.m. EST. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  73. ^ Jerome Powell: Visiting Scholar, Bipartisan Policy Center webpage. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  74. ^ Lanman, Scott, and Roger Runningen, "Obama to Choose Powell, Stein for Fed Board", Bloomberg LP, Dec 27, 2011 12:43 pm ET. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  75. ^ Robb, Greg, "Obama nominates 3 to Federal Reserve board", MarketWatch, April 29, 2010, 4:01 p.m. EDT. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
  76. ^ Lanman, Scott, "Yellen, Raskin Win Senate Approval for Fed Board of Governors", Bloomberg LP, Sep 30, 2010 12:03 am ET. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  77. ^ Censky, Annalyn, "Fed inflation hawk Warsh resigns", CNNMoney, February 10, 2011 1:01 pm ET. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  78. ^ Chan, Sewell, "Sole Fed Governor With Close Ties to Conservatives Resigns", The New York Times, February 10, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  79. ^ "Laws of the Fed". http://blogs.ft.com/money-supply/2010/07/07/laws-of-the-fed/. Retrieved July, 14 2010. 
  80. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 11–12
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  82. ^ "US CODE: Title 12, Subchapter VII—Directors of Federal Reserve Banks; Reserve Agents and Assistants". Law.cornell.edu. 2010-06-22. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode12/usc_sup_01_12_10_3_20_VII.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  83. ^ "Who owns the Federal Reserve Bank?". http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/who_owns_the_federal_reserve_bank.html. Retrieved October, 16 2010. 
  84. ^ "Section 2.3 Subscription to Stock by National Banks". Federal Reserve Act. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. December 14, 2010. http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section2.htm. Retrieved February 6, 2011. 
  85. ^ "Section 5.1 Amount of Shares; Increase and Decrease of Capital; Surrender and Cancellation of Stock". Federal Reserve Act. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. December 14, 2010. http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.htm. Retrieved February 6, 2011. 
  86. ^ Woodward, G. Thomas (1996-07-31). "Money and the Federal Reserve System: Myth and Reality – CRS Report for Congress, No. 96-672 E". Congressional Research Service Library of Congress. http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/FRS-myth.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-23. 
  87. ^ "The Federal Reserve Board 2009 Annual Report – Federal Reserve Banks Combined Financial Statements". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-07-22. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/annual09/sec6/c3.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  88. ^ a b Kennedy C. Scott v. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, et al., 406 F.3d 532 (8th Cir. 2005).
  89. ^ 680 F.2d 1239 (9th Cir. 1982).
  90. ^ Michael D. Reagan, "The Political Structure of the Federal Reserve System," American Political Science Review, Vol. 55 (March 1961), pp. 64-76, as reprinted in Money and Banking: Theory, Analysis, and Policy, p. 153, ed. by S. Mittra (Random House, New York 1970).
  91. ^ "Federal Reserve Membership," Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, at [1]
  92. ^ Reddy, Sudeep (2009-08-31 August 31, 2009). "What would a federal reserve audit show". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/08/31/what-would-a-federal-reserve-audit-show/tab/article/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  93. ^ Chittum, Ryan (2009-08-25). "Bloomberg Wins Its Lawsuit Against the Federal Reserve". Columbia Journalism Review. http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/bloomberg_wins_its_lawsuit_aga.php. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
  94. ^ Docket entry 31, Bloomberg, L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, case no. 1:08-cv-09595-LAP, U.S. District Court for the District of New York.
  95. ^ At the Court of Appeals, case no. 09cv4083.
  96. ^ a b "FRB: Federal Open Market Committee". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-08-22. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  97. ^ a b c d Federal Reserve Education—Monetary Policy Basics
  98. ^ a b BoG 2005, pp. 27
  99. ^ The Federal Reserve System In Action—Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
  100. ^ "FRB: Monetary Policy, Open Market Operations". Federalreserve.gov. 2010-01-26. http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/fundsrate.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  101. ^ "FRB: Monetary Policy, the Discount Rate". Federalreserve.gov. 2011-07-19. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/discountrate.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  102. ^ a b "FRB: Monetary Policy, Reserve Requirements". Federalreserve.gov. 2010-10-26. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reservereq.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  103. ^ "Open Market Operations". New York Federal Reserve Bank. August 2007. http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed32.html. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
  104. ^ "Repurchase and Reverse Repurchase Transactions—Fedpoints—Federal Reserve Bank of New York". Ny.frb.org. August 2007. http://www.ny.frb.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed04.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  105. ^ Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco( 2004)
  106. ^ Patricia S. Pollard (February 2003). "A Look Inside Two Central Banks: The European Central Bank And The Federal Reserve". Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) 85 (2): 11–30. doi:10.3886/ICPSR01278. OCLC 1569030. 
  107. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 30
  108. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 29–30
  109. ^ BoG 2005, pp. 31
  110. ^ Feinman, Joshua N. (June 1993). "Reserve Requirements: History, Current Practice, and Potential Reform" (PDF). Federal Reserve Bulletin: 569–589. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/0693lead.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  111. ^ "FRB: Press Release-Board announces that it will begin to pay interest on depository institutions required and excess reserve balances-October 6, 2008". Federal Reserve. 2008-10-06. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/20081006a.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  112. ^ a b c "FRB: Temporary Auction Facility FAQ". Federalreserve.gov. 2009-01-12. http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/taffaq.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  113. ^ "FRB: Press Release-Federal Reserve intends to continue term TAF auctions as necessary". Federalreserve.gov. 2007-12-21. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20071221b.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  114. ^ "FRB press release: Announcement of the creation of the Term Securities Lending Facility". Federal Reserve. 2008-03-11. http://federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20080311a.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  115. ^ "Fed Seeks to Limit Slump by Taking Mortgage Debt". bloomberg.com. 12 March 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6aFI7RKVhEA&refer=news.  "The step goes beyond past initiatives because the Fed can now inject liquidity without flooding the banking system with cash...Unlike the newest tool, the past steps added cash to the banking system, which affects the Fed's benchmark interest rate...By contrast, the TSLF injects liquidity by lending Treasuries, which doesn't affect the federal funds rate. That leaves the Fed free to address the mortgage crisis directly without concern about adding more cash to the system than it wants"
  116. ^ "Federal Reserve Announces Establishment of Primary Dealer Credit Facility—Federal Reserve Bank of New York". Newyorkfed.org. 2008-03-16. http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/markets/2008/rp080316.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  117. ^ Lanman, Scott (2008-03-20). "Fed Says Securities Firms Borrow $28.8 Bln With New Financing". Bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a7VHAq.o6kwU. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  118. ^ a b "Primary Dealer Credit Facility: Frequently Asked Questions—Federal Reserve Bank of New York". Newyorkfed.org. 2009-02-03. http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/pdcf_faq.html. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  119. ^ "Fed Announces Emergency Steps to Ease Credit Crisis – Economy". Reuters. Cnbc.com. 2008-03-17. http://www.cnbc.com/id/23664032/. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  120. ^ "Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta—Examining the Federal Reserve's New Liquidity Measures". Frbatlanta.org. 2008-04-15. http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=526AFBC6-5056-9F12-120FEABD6D2ADA91&method=display_body. Retrieved 2011-08-29. 
  121. ^ "Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions Policy on Payment System Risk," 75 Federal Register 86 (5 May 2010), pp. 24384 – 24389.
  122. ^ "Announcement of the creation of the Term Auction Facility—FRB: Press Release—Federal Reserve and other central banks announce measures designed to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets". federalreserve.gov. 12 December 2007. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20071212a.htm. 
  123. ^ "US banks borrow $50bn via new Fed facility". Financial Times. 18 February 2008. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/66db756a-de5d-11dc-9de3-0000779fd2ac.html. "Before its introduction, banks either had to raise money in the open market or use the so-called "discount window" for emergencies. However, last year many banks refused to use the discount window, even though they found it hard to raise funds in the market, because it was associated with the stigma of bank failure" 
  124. ^ "Fed Boosts Next Two Special Auctions to $30 Billion". Bloomberg. January 4, 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&refer=news&sid=aBPbErlft9cI. "The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System established the temporary Term Auction Facility, dubbed TAF, in December to provide cash after interest-rate cuts failed to break banks' reluctance to lend amid concern about losses related to subprime mortgage securities. The program will make funding from the Fed available beyond the 20 authorized primary dealers that trade with the central bank" 
  125. ^ "A dirty job, but someone has to do it". economist.com. 2007-12-13. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10286586. Retrieved 2011-08-29. "The Fed's discount window, for instance, through which it lends direct to banks, has barely been approached, despite the soaring spreads in the interbank market. The quarter-point cuts in its federal funds rate and discount rate on December 11 were followed by a steep sell-off in the stockmarket...The hope is that by extending the maturity of central-bank money, broadening the range of collateral against which banks can borrow and shifting from direct lending to an auction, the central bankers will bring down spreads in the one- and three-month money markets. There will be no net addition of liquidity. What the central bankers add at longer-term maturities, they will take out in the overnight market. But there are risks. The first is that, for all the fanfare, the central banks' plan will make little difference. After all, it does nothing to remove the fundamental reason why investors are worried about lending to banks. This is the uncertainty about potential losses from subprime mortgages and the products based on them, and—given that uncertainty—the banks' own desire to hoard capital against the chance that they will have to strengthen their balance sheets." 
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Bibliography

Recent

Historical

External links

Official Federal Reserve websites and information

Open Market operations

Repurchase agreements

Discount window

Economic indicators

Federal Reserve publications

Other websites describing the Federal Reserve

Sites critical of the Federal Reserve