Viewpoints: April 2021

One year ago, the economic outcomes of record lob loss and business closings were the primary focus of the monetary policy. The Fed took the unprecedented actions of cutting official rates to record lows, buying billions of debt [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing house prices in March were up 18.4% over the same period one year ago. That increase eclipses the prior record increase of 17.4% recorded in June 1979. In 1979, Mr. Paul [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes in March show widespread recovery, though with some choppiness. In the three months ending in March the indexes for 49 states increased (Delaware inched down). [...]

A non-market price---implied rents for owner-occupied housing--- acts as an anchor for reported consumer price inflation. Does that mean policymakers will be right in that the uptick in consumer price inflation emanating from monetary [...]

The Fed has an inflation problem, but it's not the failure to meet an arbitrary target. The problem is that there is a significant separation between reported and market inflation. The uncoupling is not new and is a statistical issue. [...]

The aphorism "a rising tide lifts all boats" – commonly attributed to John F Kennedy - is often associated with the idea that an improving economy will benefit all participants. Policymakers ought to accordingly maintain a broad focus [...]

Actual economic outcomes and not forecasted ones are the new policy of the Federal Reserve. Yet, this strategy's flaw is that it is limited to economic outcomes and overlooks or ignores financial ones. It is not a coincidence that the [...]

The Federal Reserve's new policy approach is that policymakers want to see "actual progress, not forecast progress" before deciding to change its policy stance. Substantial actual progress is occurring in the economy, some faster than [...]