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Why Is the Fed’s Balance Sheet Still So Big?
Report

Why Is the Fed’s Balance Sheet Still So Big?

FRBSF, 2019

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • For Experts

Recommendation

Federal Reserve officials introduced extraordinary monetary policy measures during the Great Recession and kept at them as the US economy recovered. Most notably, the Fed more than quadrupled the size of its balance sheet. This growth, along with years of low interest rates, provided ample liquidity to markets. In this informative report, economists Andrew Foerster and Sylvain Leduc discuss to what extent the central bank can – or should – reduce its balance sheet. Financial professionals will appreciate this robust examination of Fed policy.

Take-Aways

  • Federal Reserve officials have massively increased the central bank’s balance sheet since the Great Recession.
  • The Fed’s moves to kickstart the economy led to big hikes in securities on the asset side and in bank reserves on the liability side.
  • With so much currency awash in the US economy, no feasible way exists to return the central bank’s balance sheet to its pre-crisis levels.

About the Authors

Andrew Foerster is a research adviser and Sylvain Leduc is executive vice president and director of economic research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.