In the spirit of the summer season, the New York Fed’s Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) thought it would contribute something to your summer reading list.
As the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve plays a major role in American economic life. That makes it especially important that the communities we serve understand what monetary policy is and how we implement it today. To that end, our team on the Desk developed a series of notes that focus on various aspects of monetary policy implementation.
Over the coming week, we will publish four articles that cover some key components of implementation:
- The Fed’s implementation framework overall;
- The role of the Fed’s balance sheet;
- The role of the Fed’s standing liquidity facilities; and
- Recent developments, to show how the Fed’s tools have worked in practice.
Together, these articles aim to provide a foundational understanding of how the Fed’s monetary policy decisions are put into practice. We tried to keep things simple, avoiding “Fedspeak” where possible in favor of plain, simple English. We’ve asked the authors to frame this in an accessible way, explaining concepts in a conversational tone that is easy to understand—whether you loved economics in high school or counted down the minutes until the bell rang.
So, between your backyard barbeques and visits to the beach, we hope you’re open to us assigning some homework by encouraging you to read through this series.
Anna Nordstrom is Head of the Domestic and International Markets Function and a senior leader in the New York Fed’s Markets Group.
Roberto Perli is the Manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) and a senior leader in the New York Fed’s Markets Group.
Julie Remache is the Deputy Manager of the SOMA and a senior leader in the New York Fed’s Markets Group.
The views expressed in this article are those of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the New York Fed or the Federal Reserve System.
