Has the Fed given up?

Monetary policy - United States ; Inflation (Finance) ; Interest rates

Monetary policy transmission through the consumption-wealth channel : commentary

Paper for a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York entitled Financial Innovation and Monetary TransmissionMonetary policy ; Consumption (Economics) ; Wealth

Electron spin resonance study of thermal instability reactions in jet fuels

Free radicals were studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) using model compounds that are representative of constituents of jet fuels. Radical formation was initiated with peroxides and hydroperoxides by using UV photolysis at and near room temperature and thermal initiation at higher temperatures. Both oxygen free and air saturated systems were studied. N-Dodecane was frequently used as a solvent, and a mixture of n-dodecyl radicals was made with a peroxide initiator in n-dodecane (free of oxygen) thermally at 212 C and photolytically at room temperature. Hydrogen abstraction from the 3,4,5 and 6-positions gives radicals that are sufficiently alike that their spectra are essentially superimposed. The radical formed by abstract of hydrogen from the 2-position gives a different spectrum. ESR parameters for these radicals were measured. The radical formed by abstraction of a primary hydrogen was not observed. Similar radicals are formed from n-decane. A variety of exploratory experiments were carried out with systems that give free radical spectra to which was added small amounts of 2,5-dimethylpyrrole

Effects of monetary disturbances on exchange rates, inflation and interest rates

Money supply ; Foreign exchange rates ; Inflation (Finance) ; Interest rates

Reforming Social Security with Progressive Personal Accounts

The heated debate about how to reform Social Security has come to a standstill because the view of most Democrats (that Social Security must be a defined benefits plan similar in spirit to the current system) seems irreconcilable with the proposals supported by many Republicans (to create a defined contribution system of personal accounts holding marketed assets). We describe a system of "progressive personal accounts" that preserves the core goals of both parties, and that is self-balancing on an ongoing basis. Progressive personal accounts have two critical features: (1) accruals into the personal accounts would be exclusively in a new kind of derivative security (which we call a PAAW for Personal Annuitized Average Wage security) that pays its owner one inflation-corrected dollar during every year of life after his statutory retirement date, multiplied by the economy wide average wage at the retirement date and (2) households would buy their new PAAWs each year with their social security contributions, augmented or reduced by a government match that would add to contributions from households with low lifetime incomes by taking from households with high lifetime incomes. PAAWS define benefits and achieve risk sharing across generations, as Democrats would like, yet can be held in personal accounts with market valuations, as Republicans propose.Social Security, Personal accounts, Risk-sharing