Review

This article discusses the construction, publica­tion, and evolution of monetary aggregates data since the inception of the Federal Reserve Sys­tem in 1914.

This timeline follows the history of the monetary aggregates published by the staff of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The chronology is based on the Board’s J.3 and 11.6 statistical releases as well as material from the Federal Reserve Bulletin, Money Stock Revisions, and other publications.

Commentary on "The Evolution of the Federal Reserve's Monetary Aggregates: A Timeline" by Kenneth A. Kavajecz.

Monetary policy is now mainly about setting short-term interest rates, despite all the well-known difficulties that choosing the “correct” interest rate entails. This article follows an alternative line of reasoning, for which there is an overwhelming theoretical case. T

Commentary on "Empirical Evidence on the Recent Behavior and Usefulness of Simple-Sum and Weighted Measures of the Money Stock" by K. Alec Chrystal and Ronald MacDonald.

The authors produce two versions of the dynamic Fourier expenditure system that are then compared with the static model in various ways. They briefly discuss the static model before going into considerable detail over what they call the “time-series approach” to making the Fourier model dynamic. 

Commentary on "Money Demand in a Flexible Dynamic Fourier Expenditure System" by Douglas Fisher and Adrian Fleissig.

This article focuses on the production theory of the financial firm and supply-side monetary aggregation in the framework of dynamics and risk. On the demand side, there has been much progress in applying consumer demand theory to the generation of exact monetary aggregates and integrating them into consumer demand system modeling. 

Commentary on “Financial Firms' Production and Supply-Side Monetary Aggregation Under Dynamic Uncertainty” by William A. Barnett and Ge Zhou.

The authors respond to Charles R. Nelson's commentary on their paper "Financial Firms' Production and Supply-Side Monetary Aggregation Under Dynamic Uncertainty." 

In the long run, the GDP deflator is closely related to the quantity of M2 per unit of real GDP. The question examined in this article concerns how the Federal Reserve should select ranges for monetary growth over the coming year to achieve a given rate of change in the price level in the near future. 

Commentary on "Can the Central Bank Achieve Price Stability?" by Jerome L. Stein.

Michael J. Boskin puts a broader-brush perspective on monetary aggregates, intermediate targets, rules versus discretion, and the recent history of monetary policymaking. Philip H. Dylnrig looks at the Federal Reserve through the lens of decision theory.