Milton Friedman on the Federal Reserve
71 passages for “the Federal Reserve”, 58 checked against the source. Page 3 of 8.
Full topic page: Monetary policy and the Federal Reserve
The basic source of inflation is the faster growth in the quantity of money than in output.
Perspective on InflationColumn, 1974, Newsweek (June 1974); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 18, 1974, pp. 19786 to 19787, introduced by Representative Jack Kemp of New York, who calls it “his column this week in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date, and the chart that ran with the column is not reproduced, Congressional Record, June 18, 1974, pp. 19786 to 19787The text for this paper, to paraphrase the famous remark attributed to Poincaré, is, “Money is too important to be left to the central bankers.”
Should There Be an Independent Monetary Authority?Journal article, 1962, In Search of a Monetary Constitution, ed. Leland B. Yeager (Harvard University Press, 1962), pp. 219–243; reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 205–214, p. 205 of the 1968 House reprintThere is one and only one basic cure for inflation: slowing monetary growth. But that cure is easier to state than to put into effect: witness our repeated abandonment of the cure.
Why Inflation PersistsColumn, 1977, Newsweek (October 3, 1977); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, September 29, 1977, p. 31684, introduced by Representative Parren J. Mitchell of Maryland, who gives it as appearing “in the October 3, 1977, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, September 29, 1977, p. 31684World War II affirmed what everybody knew for a long time. If you print enough money and spend it you can create an appearance of activity and prosperity. That's what it confirmed. It did not confirm his theories about how you preserve full employment over a long time.
Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interviewInterview, 2000, PBS, “On John Maynard Keynes,” interview conducted October 1, 2000The first and most important lesson that history teaches about what monetary policy can do—and it is a lesson of the most profound importance—is that monetary policy can prevent money itself from being a major source of economic disturbance.
The Role of Monetary PolicyJournal article, 1968, American Economic Review 58, no. 1 (March 1968), pp. 1–17; reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 214–224, p. 221 of the 1968 House reprintSetting a target range for the Federal Funds interest rate should be ended. That rate, and all other interest rates, should be determined entirely by the market and abandoned as instruments of policy. The Fed’s task, as it now recognizes, is to control the quantity of money, not interest rates.
Improving Monetary PolicyColumn, 1980, Newsweek, July 28, 1980; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, July 28, 1980, p. 20026, introduced by Representative Robert Dornan of California, who gives the column as appearing in the Newsweek issue “dated July 28, 1980”, Congressional Record, July 28, 1980, p. 20026In the present state of our knowledge, I believe that the best—or least bad—guideline for monetary policy is steady growth of the quantity of money at a rate that on the average will mean stable prices of final products.
Statement to the House Subcommittee on Domestic FinanceTestimony, 1968, Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, House Committee on Banking and Currency, 90th Congress, 2nd Session (December 1968), p. 203The great contraction is tragic testimony to the power of monetary policy—not, as Keynes and so many of his contemporaries believed, evidence of its impotence.
The Role of Monetary PolicyJournal article, 1968, American Economic Review 58, no. 1 (March 1968), pp. 1–17; reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 214–224, p. 216 of the 1968 House reprintThe use of quantity of money as a target has not been a success. I'm not sure that I would as of today push it as hard as I once did.
True, money is only a machine, but it is an extraordinarily efficient machine. ( … ) But money has one feature that these other machines do not share. Because it is so pervasive, when it gets out of order, it throws a monkey wrench into the operation of all the other machines.
The Role of Monetary PolicyJournal article, 1968, American Economic Review 58, no. 1 (March 1968), pp. 1–17; reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 214–224, p. 221 of the 1968 House reprint