The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23,1913,with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act,after a series of financial panics led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises. Over the years,events such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s have led to the expansion of the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System.
Price stability is a goal of monetary and fiscal policy aiming to support sustainable rates of economic activity. Policy is set to maintain a very low rate of inflation or deflation. For example,the European Central Bank (ECB) describes price stability as a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the Euro area of below 2%. However,by referring to "an increase in the HICP of below 2%" the ECB makes clear that not only persistent inflation above 2% but also deflation are inconsistent with the goal of price stability.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is a committee within the Federal Reserve System that is charged under United States law with overseeing the nation's open market operations. This Federal Reserve committee makes key decisions about interest rates and the growth of the United States money supply. Under the terms of the original Federal Reserve Act,each of the Federal Reserve banks was authorized to buy and sell in the open market bonds and short term obligations of the United States Government,bank acceptances,cable transfers,and bills of exchange. Hence,the reserve banks were at times bidding against each other in the open market. In 1922,an informal committee was established to execute purchases and sales. The Banking Act of 1933 formed an official FOMC.
George William Miller was an American businessman and investment banker who served as the 65th United States secretary of the treasury from 1979 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party,he also served as the 11th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1978 to 1979. Miller was the first person to hold both of those posts.
William McChesney Martin Jr. was an American business executive who served as the 9th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1951 to 1970,making him the longest holder of that position. He was nominated to the post by President Harry S. Truman and reappointed by four of his successors. Martin,who once considered becoming a Presbyterian minister,was described by a Washington journalist as "the happy Puritan".
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond,Virginia,and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that,along with the Board of Governors in Washington,D.C.,make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is the headquarters of the Fifth District of the Federal Reserve located in Richmond,Virginia. It covers the District of Columbia,Maryland,North Carolina,South Carolina,Virginia,and most of West Virginia excluding the Northern Panhandle. Branch offices are located in Baltimore,Maryland and Charlotte,North Carolina. Thomas I. Barkin became president of the Richmond Fed following the retirement of Jeffrey M. Lacker in April 2017. The previous president,J. Alfred Broaddus,retired in 2004.
The National Fed Challenge is an academic competition that provides high school students with an insider's view of how the United States central bank,the Federal Reserve,makes monetary policy.
Kevin Maxwell Warsh is an American financier and bank executive who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011.
Charles L. Evans is the former ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,serving from 2007 to 2023. In that capacity,he served on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC),the Federal Reserve System's monetary policy-making body.
This is a list of historical rate actions by the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC controls the supply of credit to banks and the sale of treasury securities. The Federal Open Market Committee meets every two months during the fiscal year. At scheduled meetings,the FOMC meets and makes any changes it sees as necessary,notably to the federal funds rate and the discount rate. The committee may also take actions with a less firm target,such as an increasing liquidity by the sale of a set amount of Treasury bonds,or affecting the price of currencies both foreign and domestic by selling dollar reserves. Jerome Powell is the current chairperson of the Federal Reserve and the FOMC.
James Brian Bullard is the former chief executive officer and 12th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,a position he held from 2008 until August 14,2023. In July 2023,he was named dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business at Purdue University.
The Structure of the Federal Reserve System is unique among central banks in the world,with both public and private aspects. It is described as "independent within the government" rather than "independent of government".
In monetary policy of the United States,the term Fedspeak is what Alan Blinder called "a turgid dialect of English" used by Federal Reserve Board chairs in making wordy,vague,and ambiguous statements. The strategy,which was used most prominently by Alan Greenspan,was used to prevent financial markets from overreacting to the chairman's remarks. The coinage is an intentional parallel to Newspeak.
Thomas MacGillivray Humphrey was an American economist. Until 2005 he was a research advisor and senior economist in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and editor of the bank's flagship publication,the Economic Quarterly. His publications cover macroeconomics,monetary economics,and the history of economic thought. Mark Blaug called him the "undisputed master" of British classical monetary thought.
John Alfred Broaddus Jr. was the sixth president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond,headquarters of the Fifth District of the Federal Reserve System serving the District of Columbia,Maryland,North Carolina,South Carolina,Virginia,and most of West Virginia with the exception of the Northern Panhandle.
Robert P. Black,a native of Hickman,Kentucky,was the fifth president (1973–1992) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond,the headquarters of the Fifth District of the Federal Reserve System. He was preceded in that position by Aubrey N. Heflin and succeeded by J. Alfred Broaddus (1993–2004) and Jeffrey Lacker.
Marvin Seth Goodfriend was an American economist. He held the Allan H. Meltzer Professorship in economics at Carnegie Mellon University;he was previously the director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Following his 2017 nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,the White House decided to forgo renominating Goodfriend at the beginning of the new term.
Thomas I. Barkin is an American central banker,who became the eighth president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond on January 1,2018. He worked at global management consulting firm McKinsey &Company for 30 years in increasingly senior positions,including as global chief financial officer (CFO) and chief risk officer,with oversight of finance,legal and information technology functions,among others. He also served on the executive committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce,as an Emory University Board of Trustees member,and former board member and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
