St. Louis Fed Releases 2015 Annual Report

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has released its 2015 annual report, the feature article of which focuses on monetary policy normalization.

“The Road to Normal: New Directions in Monetary Policy” focuses on the Federal Reserve’s return to normal monetary policy after seven years of abnormally low interest rates, which were brought on by the financial crisis and Great Recession.

The author is Stephen Williamson, an economist at the St. Louis Fed and noted scholar in monetary economics. In his article, he presents a short history of recent unconventional monetary policy and explains how the normalization process is likely to unfold. He also weighs the arguments for and against normalization.

Also in the annual report, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard discusses reasons to normalize U.S. monetary policy and addresses why other countries aren’t doing the same.

The St. Louis Fed, with branches in Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis, serves the states that comprise the Federal Reserve’s Eighth District, which includes all of Arkansas, eastern Missouri, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. 

The report is available at this link.