WSJ: Debate on the Fed

June 14, 2005 7:33pm by

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Here comes the reveal of the "project" referred to earlier today:

Econoblog: What should the Fed do? What will the Fed do?
A debate on the Fed and its impact.
(No subscription required)

Mark Thoma of Economist’s View was an encouraging cohost, and we discussed the following issue:

In two weeks, the Federal Reserve Board will hold its two-day June meeting and will be considering what could be the ninth increase to the central bank’s target for the federal-funds rate — the rate charged on overnight loans between banks and the key to the rates charged on a variety of consumer and business loans.

Led by Chairman Alan Greenspan, policy makers have raised the rate from 1% last June to the current 3%, in hopes that a slow and steady increase can prevent slowing productivity growth and increased business pricing power from spiraling into inflation.

What will the members of the board do when they get together in June and at the four remaining meetings this year, and what should they do? Bloggers Mark Thoma, of the University of Oregon, and Barry Ritholtz, of Maxim Group, consider the possibilities.

There’s also a comment-like message board devoted to the subject — which also does not require a subscription. Anyone who wants to comment on the Fed discussion can (and should). Save the hate mail, and post here!   

Thanks Mark and Kate.It was lot of fun (but exhausting).  While I can hardly be called an expert on the Fed, I am an interested observer. And, I got out of wearing a suit for the day.

Go check it out . . .

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Source:
Where Will Rates Go From Here? Experts Consider the Fed’s Path
ECONOBLOG
WSJ, June 15, 2005
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/econoblog06152005.htm

WSJ Message Board
Econoblog
http://discussions.wsj.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=wsjvoices&nav=messages&msg=3531

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. anne commented on Jun 14

    Nicely done, Barry. Mark and you go well together, but I lean to Mark in this case. Nice.

  2. touche commented on Jun 14

    You folks are taking the Fed way too seriously. Why? Globalization means that pricing power in the US is rapidly shifting to the global economy. The fed is left with controlling exchange rates by setting the fed funds rate. But wait! China has excerpted this role with its fixed exchange rate.

    So what’s a Fed to do? As little as possible least they mess things up.

  3. Movie Guy commented on Jun 14

    Glad you did the exchange with Mark.

    Would enjoy seeing you do one with Brad Setser, too.

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