History, structure, mandates, operating procedures of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank
Lecture 1. The U.S. Federal Reserve System
Supporting materials:
(a) Federal Reserve Act 1913
(b) Review of Monetary Policy Strategy, Tools, and Communications
Preparing for the January 28-29, 2025 FOMC Meeting
Lecture 2. U.S. Macroeconomic Performance (Post WWII)
Supporting materials
(a) Past FOMC Meetings (Minutes of 2019 FOMC Meetings now available here)
(b) Transcripts and other historical materials
(c) Summary of Economic Projections (collected in March, June, September, December)
(d) Fed Listens
(e) New Policy Framework 2019-20
(f) Briefing the Chicago Fed President
Lecture 3. Outlook: Interest Rates and Inflation
(a) December Policy Statement
(b) Jerome Powell Press Conference, December
(c) SEP for December 2025
Lecture 4. Ask an Expert Lecture (Jan 24): Charles Gascon, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis >
Materials: Slide deck and Documentation
Lecture 5. Monday, January 27, 2025. Class presentations, Mock FOMC briefings
Briefings: (a) Financial conditions; (b) International Conditions; (c) National Economy; (d) District Conditions; (e) Policy
Supporting materials
University of Miami 2024 Undergraduate Fed Challenge Presentation
Note: Congratulations to our UM team, who placed in the top 6 out of 119 teams; see here
FOMC Meeting January 28-29, 2025
(a) Fed Chair Jerome Powell Press Conference, Jan 29 (viewed either live or recorded)
(b) New Policy Statement
Commercial Banks and Money Markets
(a) Commercial banks, creation and destruction of money.
(b) Commercial bank balance sheets, asset and liability side regulations.
(c) Federal Reserve Open Market Operations.
(d) Scarce Reserves Regime vs Abundant Reserves Regime.
Reading: Lecture notes on the Money Supply
Slide Deck: Money Supply
Teaching tool: Teaching the New Tools of Monetary Policy (St. Louis Fed)
Teaching tool: Expansionary and contractionary monetary policy (St. Louis Fed)
Maturity Structure of Treasuries Held by the Fed (St. Louis Fed)
How the Overnight Reverse Repo Facility Works (NY Fed)
Role of the Treasury (Treasury Department)
Duties and Functions of the Treasury Department (Treasury Department)
Treasury Direct (open your own US Treasury account here!)
Slide Deck: Shadow Banking
Assess/critique: How the Federal Reserve Got So Huge, and Why and How it Can Shrink, Bill Nelson (2024).
Question: Should money markets be subject to "price discovery" the way capital markets are?
Question: Should Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) be used to support an interest rate floor?
Financial Innovation: Money Market Funds, Stablecoins.
Monetary and Fiscal Policy Coordination
Slide Deck: Fiscal Theory of the Price Level
(a) Determination of the price-level (fiscal theory of the price-level)
(b) Monetary and fiscal policy coordination vs central bank independence
(c) Interpreting the COVID-19 inflation
(d) Monetary Policy Framework Review
History of U.S. Monetary Policy, 1961-2024
(a) A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021, Alan Blinder