Monetary Stability and the Structure of the Federal Reserve System
ABSTRACT
When originally conceived, the structure of the Federal Reserve System was intended to accommodate many of the key aspects of American political and economic life. At the heart of that understanding was a certain appreciation for regionalism and the distinctiveness of American federal structures. It was thought eminently possible to fashion a regulatory institution that would retain the safeguards of decentralization while securing the benefits of uniform monetary regulation, but the current trend of policy has been towards the centralization of authority. This conference explored this tendency as well as the general question of the Federal Reserve's efficacy as an institution of monetary control.
READING LIST
Conference Readings
Buchanan, James M. “Economists Have No Clothes.” Rationality, Markets and Morals: Studies at the Intersection of Philosophy and Economics 0 (2009): 151-156.
Hoenig, Thomas M. “Too Big Has Failed.” Private talk, Omaha, Nebraska, March 6, 2009.
Meltzer, Allan H. A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 1: 1913-1951. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Plosser, Charles I. “Demystifying the Federal Reserve.” Speech at Lafayette College Policy Studies Program, Easton, Pennsylvania, September 29, 2009.
Plosser, Charles I. “Ensuring Sound Monetary Policy in the Aftermath of Crisis.” Speech at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, Initiative on Global Markets, sponsored by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, New York, NY, February 27, 2009.
Schwartz, Anna J. “The Misuse of the Fed's Discount Window.” The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review 74, no. 5 (September/October 1992): 58-69.
Timberlake, Richard H. Monetary Policy in the United States: An Intellectual and Institutional History. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993.