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Monetary policy
20 guides in Finabase Learn
- Central bank A national institution that manages a country's currency, money supply and short-term interest rates, such as the Federal Reserve.
- Central banks around the world: Fed, ECB, BOJ, BoE and more The policy rates and mandates of the Fed, ECB, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and PBOC, and how gaps between them move currencies like USD/JPY.
- Deflation A sustained fall in the general price level, the opposite of inflation, which can raise real debt burdens and delay spending.
- Discount Rate The rate used to convert future cash flows to present value; also the rate the Fed charges banks at its discount window.
- Dot Plot The Fed chart showing where each FOMC participant expects the federal funds rate to be at the end of coming years.
- Federal funds rate The overnight rate at which US banks lend reserves to each other; the Federal Reserve sets a target range for it.
- Federal funds rate: target range, IORB and the effective rate What the fed funds rate is, how the Fed keeps it inside a 25 bp target range with IORB, reverse repos and standing repos, and how it is measured each day.
- Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) The Federal Reserve committee that votes on interest-rate policy at eight scheduled meetings a year.
- Federal Reserve The central bank of the United States, which sets monetary policy, supervises banks and aims for maximum employment and stable prices.
- Fiscal vs monetary policy: who controls which lever How fiscal policy (taxes, spending, borrowing) and monetary policy (the Fed’s rates and balance sheet) differ, how they interact, and what 2020–2026 shows.
- FOMC meetings: schedule, statement, minutes and how to read them What happens at the Fed’s eight yearly FOMC meetings, the 2:00 p.m. statement, press conference and minutes, and every rate step from 2008 to 2026.
- Hawkish and dovish Shorthand for central bank stances: hawks favor higher rates to fight inflation, doves favor lower rates to support jobs.
- How Fed decisions move markets: expectations, surprises and yields Why markets react to Fed surprises rather than decisions, how fed funds futures and the 2-year yield price the rate path, and what 2015–2026 data show.
- Monetary policy A central bank's management of interest rates and the money supply to control inflation and support employment.
- Quantitative easing (QE) A central bank buying large amounts of bonds with newly created reserves to push down longer-term interest rates and ease credit.
- Quantitative easing and tightening: the Fed’s balance sheet How QE and QT work, every round from 2008 to 2025 with dates and amounts, the Fed’s $0.9 trillion to $9 trillion balance sheet, and what it means for markets.
- Quantitative tightening (QT) A central bank shrinking its bond holdings, usually by letting them mature without reinvesting, to reverse quantitative easing.
- Real interest rates: nominal rates minus inflation, explained How to compute a real interest rate, ex post versus ex ante, the real fed funds rate since 1960 and the 10-year TIPS yield, and why real rates drive markets.
- The Federal Reserve: structure, mandate and policy tools How the Fed is organized, what its dual mandate means, the tools it uses to set interest rates, and seven decades of the fed funds rate in one chart.
- The Taylor rule: formula, worked example and Fed policy since 1990 The Taylor (1993) rule step by step, a worked 2026 calculation, how its prescription compares with the actual fed funds rate since 1990, and why it is a benchmark.
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