Author: Mark A. Carlson

Publisher:

Published: 2014-07-26

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13: 9781457856099

This study examines the evolution of Federal Reserve monetary policy from the mid-1930s through the 1950s in an effort to understand better the apparent success of policy in the 1950s. Whereas others have debated whether the Fed had a sophisticated understanding of how to implement policy, the authors focus on how the constraints on the Fed changed over time. The Roosevelt Admin. gold policies and New Deal legislation limited the Fed's ability to conduct an independent monetary policy. The Fed was forced to cooperate with the Treasury Dept. in the 1930s, and fully ceded monetary policy to Treasury financing requirements during World War II. Yet the Fed retained a policy tool in the form of reserve requirements, and from the mid-1930s to 1951, changes in required reserve ratios were the primary means by which the Fed responded to expected inflation. Following the Fed-Treasury Accord of March 1951, the external pressures on the Fed diminished significantly, which enabled the Fed to focus primarily on macroeconomic objectives. Tables and figures. This is a print on demand report.