A Primer on The Federal Reserve's Independence
President Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now. Since January, the President has accused him of playing politics by keeping interest rates high. Trump has also threatened to oust Powell — which would mark an extraordinary shift away from the independence of the central bank.
Today on the show, three Indicators: a short history of the Federal Reserve and why it's insulated from day-to-day politics; how the Fed amassed a ton of power in recent years; and a Trump executive order that took some of that power away.
Economic Dynamism
The Causal Effect of News on Inflation Expectations
This paper studies the response of household inflation expectations to television news coverage of inflation.
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The Rise of Inflation Targeting
This paper discusses the interactions between politics and economic ideas leading to the adoption of inflation targeting in the United States.
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Why Can't the Middle Class Invest Like Mitt Romney?
Why can’t middle-income Americans pay effectively no taxes on investments like the wealthy do?
The Revenge of the Supply-Siders
Trump would do well to heed his supply-side advisers again and avoid the populist Keynesian shortcuts of stimulus checks or easy money.
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