FOMC Statement, Sept. 13th, 2012: “If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability.”
I had predicted that the FOMC would announce another round of QE, in the amount of $500B. I criticized the decision in advance by saying that the Fed should target outcomes rather than endless incremental inputs.
I was wrong; I underestimated Bernanke’s powers of persuasion with the hawks. It looks like he has finally used his considerable authority to begin to practice what he used to preach as a professor.
He has announced that the Fed will continue to buy securities (QE3+) until the outlook for the labor market improves substantially. While it is true that he will do this in increments of $85 billion per month, he made an open-ended promise to keep buying bonds until his target is achieved. This is a major intellectual breakthough for the Fed.
The Fed has begun to do what the ultra-doves (the “market monetarists”) have been begging for since 2007: use its unlimited resources to fulfill its full employment mandate.
I wonder if the hawks fully understand what they have just signed up for or, if they do understand it, whether they really mean it. That is because, I think it will cost at least another one trillion for the Fed to achieve its new target, and maybe two trillion.
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That means that the Fed will have to buy bonds at $85 billion per month for one to two years. That is probably beyond Bernanke’s tenure in the job. Who knows what the next chairman will think of this policy? And if ever inflation dares to rise one iota over 2%, the Fed will have an excuse to stop the whole exercise.
Unlike the Supreme Court, the Fed is not bound by its own precedents, and can change its mind at any time (as it just did). Nonetheless, this is the first time in history that the Fed has targeted employment growth by any means necessary.
In the past, the Fed's weapons were conventional (interest rates) and unconventional (incremental QE), but never open-ended QE. The last time something like this happened was when FDR horrified economists by raising the price of gold until commodity prices recovered (which was 100% successful).
I am anxious to see what the ever-unhappy Paul Krugman has to say about the Fed statement, since it what he has been demanding for a long time. I’m sure he not be satisfied (maybe for good reason). His blog says that he will be travelling today, but I will bet that he posts something this evening.
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FOMC Statement, Sept. 13th, 2012:
“If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability.”
I had predicted that the FOMC would announce another round of QE, in the amount of $500B. I criticized the decision in advance by saying that the Fed should target outcomes rather than endless incremental inputs.
I was wrong; I underestimated Bernanke’s powers of persuasion with the hawks.
It looks like he has finally used his considerable authority to begin to practice what he used to preach as a professor.
He has announced that the Fed will continue to buy securities (QE3+) until the outlook for the labor market improves substantially. While it is true that he will do this in increments of $85 billion per month, he made an open-ended promise to keep buying bonds until his target is achieved. This is a major intellectual breakthough for the Fed.
The Fed has begun to do what the ultra-doves (the “market monetarists”) have been begging for since 2007: use its unlimited resources to fulfill its full employment mandate.
I wonder if the hawks fully understand what they have just signed up for or, if they do understand it, whether they really mean it. That is because, I think it will cost at least another one trillion for the Fed to achieve its new target, and maybe two trillion.
Subscribe to PS Digital
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
That means that the Fed will have to buy bonds at $85 billion per month for one to two years. That is probably beyond Bernanke’s tenure in the job. Who knows what the next chairman will think of this policy? And if ever inflation dares to rise one iota over 2%, the Fed will have an excuse to stop the whole exercise.
Unlike the Supreme Court, the Fed is not bound by its own precedents, and can change its mind at any time (as it just did). Nonetheless, this is the first time in history that the Fed has targeted employment growth by any means necessary.
In the past, the Fed's weapons were conventional (interest rates) and unconventional (incremental QE), but never open-ended QE. The last time something like this happened was when FDR horrified economists by raising the price of gold until commodity prices recovered (which was 100% successful).
I am anxious to see what the ever-unhappy Paul Krugman has to say about the Fed statement, since it what he has been demanding for a long time. I’m sure he not be satisfied (maybe for good reason). His blog says that he will be travelling today, but I will bet that he posts something this evening.