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The Fed's Lael Brainard is leaving monetary policy for fiscal policy

Feb 14, 2023
It takes a versatile person to go from setting interest rates to setting an economic agenda, one expert says.
Economist Lael Brainard will be the next director of the National Economic Council, the White House announced Tuesday.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The economic legacy of the Jan. 6 insurrection is "intertwined" with the pandemic

Jan 6, 2022
“So much is good about the recovery,” said Wendy Edelberg of the Brookings Institution. Yet “we’re still in the midst of chaos.”
Protesters loyal to Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The nation's political instability, said Wendy Edelberg of Brookings, "makes me nervous for the year ahead."
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

For Black workers, unemployment is 4 percentage points higher than for whites. Can the Federal Reserve fix that?

Sep 9, 2021
Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project, says monetary policy has a roleay, but it's "not the whole show."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The central bank has been keeping interest rates low, but Wendy Edelberg says in the near future it should let the economy "grow on its own two feet."
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Dallas Fed president on the mood in the Fed’s Zoom room

Dec 18, 2020
“This downturn has not felt like a normal downturn for the whole economy because of fiscal relief,” says Robert Kaplan.
 Robert Kaplan, president and CEO of the Dallas Federal Reserve.
Courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

What's behind the national debt?

Jun 17, 2020
We look into how the government borrows money and what it means in the long run.
Then-Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in 2016. The national debt has since passed $26 trillion.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

What can the Federal Reserve do to help the economy?

May 20, 2020
The central bank is already buying bonds to keep money flowing, but it has a few more tools in its kit.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before Congress in 2018. Powell has been urging Congress to provide more fiscal support during the pandemic.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

OECD: Growth downgraded, fiscal policy needed

Sep 19, 2019
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development echoes central bankers, saying monetary policy alone can't spur global growth.
Laurence Boone, chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, presents the OECD interim economic outlook in Paris in 2018.
Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

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Fed Chair Jay Powell: We’re “independent of political considerations”

Jul 12, 2018
In a 30 minute conversation, Chairman Powell discusses tariffs, political pressure on the Fed and wage stagnation.
Jerome Powell listens as President Trump announces Powell as nominee for Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 2, 2017.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Why economists and politicians don't seem to speak the same language

Mar 27, 2018
If we want better policies, then politicians need to start thinking more like economists — and vice versa.
President Donald Trump signs Section 232 Proclamations on Steel and Aluminum Imports in the Oval Office of the White House on March 8, 2018, in Washington, D.C. 
MANDEL NGAN / Getty Images

Clinton economic policies rely on tax changes

Aug 11, 2016
In a speech near Detroit, Clinton said the rich and corporations should pay more.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton plans to tax corporations that move jobs outside of the country to pay for her initiatives.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

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