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The overarching questions at hand were clear: How are different households affected by economic expansions and recessions, and what facts should inform Federal Reserve System policymakers as they consider the consequences of monetary policy?
With that framework provided by Institute Director Abigail Wozniak, researchers and community leaders convened at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on April 9 and 10 for “Fed Listens: Distributional Consequences of the Cycle and Monetary Policy.”
The Spring Conference was part of the “Fed Listens” series to broadly review the strategy, tools, and communication practices the Federal Reserve uses to pursue the monetary policy goals established by the Congress: maximum employment and price stability.
As Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Richard Clarida said in his keynote remarks that concluded day one of the conference: “With the U.S. economy operating at or close to our maximum-employment and price-stability goals, now is an especially opportune time to conduct this review. … The review of our current framework will be wide ranging, and we will not prejudge where it will take us.”
The wide-ranging research presented by participants on four panels and the reaction provided by community leaders who digested the economists’ findings should help to guide the Federal Reserve in considering those new practices.
A complete agenda of the conference, full videos of all panels, and an extensive final report—plus an executive summary—developed by the Minneapolis Fed’s Public Affairs department can be found here.
