Why do a research paper on the Federal Reserve System? This is a question we went over in our heads while making a decision on the type of research paper to do, what we wanted to learn more about and why. Over the past few years we have realized the impact that the Federal Government has on our economy, yet we never knew enough about the subject to understand why. While taking this Economics course it has brought so many things to our attention, especially since we see inflation, gas prices, unemployment and interest rates on the rise. It has given us a better understanding of the effect of the Government on the economy, the stock market, the interest rates, etc. Since the Federal Government has such a control over our Economy, we decided to tackle the subject of the Federal Reserve System and try to get a better understanding of the history, the structure, and the monetary policy of the power that it holds.
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking authority of the United States. It acts as a fiscal agent for the United States government and is custodian of the reserve accounts of commercial banks, makes loans to commercial banks, and is authorized to issue Federal Reserve notes that constitute the entire supply of paper currency of the country. Created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, it is comprised of 12 Federal Reserve banks, the Federal Open Market Committee, and the Federal Advisory Council, and since 1976, a Consumer Advisory Council which includes several thousand member banks. The board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System determines the reserve requirements of the member banks within statutory limits, reviews and determines the discount rates established pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act to serve the public interest; it is governed by a board of nine directors, six of whom are elected by the member banks and three of whom are appointed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal
Bibliography: FED 101 Hosted by The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. http://www.kc.frb.org/fed101 Friedman, Milton and Jacobson Schwartz, Anna. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. Princeton, 1963 Hailstones, Thomas and Rothwell, John. Managerial Economics, 1993. Prentice Hall, 1993 Metzler, Allan H. A History of the Federal Reserve, Vol I and II. University Press Books, 2002 National Information Center for the Federal Reserve System. http://www.ffiec.gov/nic Rabboh, Bob and Bartson, Ronald J. Principles of Economics. Pearson, 2002 The Federal Reserve Board. http://www.federalreserve.gov The Federal Reserve System Online. http://www.federalreserveonline.org