Milton Friedman on the Federal Reserve
71 passages for “the Federal Reserve”, 58 checked against the source. Page 1 of 8.
Full topic page: Monetary policy and the Federal Reserve
If I were to make up a balance sheet for the Federal Reserve, I could name many credit items on the research side, very few on the policy side.
Interview with Milton FriedmanInterview, 1992, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, The Region, Interview by David Levy, June 1, 1992In my opinion, it would be desirable for Congress to instruct the Federal Reserve to adopt this policy. That would assure that the Federal Reserve System would provide a steady and stable background for private and public economic policy, instead of being itself a source of instability as it so often has been in the past and as it is currently being at this very moment.
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), pp. 203–204The plain fact is that inflation is made in Washington, in that stately and impressive Grecian temple . . . that houses the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
The Inflationary FedColumn, 1973, Newsweek, August 27, 1973; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 7, 1973, p. 36327, introduced by Representative Robert Huber of Michigan as “Mr. Milton Friedman’s article that appeared in Newsweek of August 27, 1973”, Congressional Record, November 7, 1973, p. 36327In two earlier columns on monetary policy, I was highly critical of the Federal Reserve System for acting too late and then, when it did act, for overreacting. This time, I come to praise, not to criticize. Since November 1967, the Fed has moved not only in the right direction but also by about the right amount.
Monetary PolicyColumn, 1968, Newsweek (June 3, 1968); reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 225–226, p. 225 of the 1968 House reprintThose same procedures are clumsy and inefficient for achieving the objective that the Fed now professes: control of the quantity of money.
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. 20026Inflation will not be stopped by words, only by actions. At the moment, we have the worst of two worlds. Nominal independence of the Federal Reserve without its effective exercise permits Congress and the President to evade responsibility for the creation of money to finance large government deficits.
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. 31684Our hopes have been shattered. Monetary growth has been both higher and more variable in the past three and a half years than in any other postwar period of equal length.
The Inflationary FedColumn, 1973, Newsweek, August 27, 1973; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 7, 1973, p. 36327, introduced by Representative Robert Huber of Michigan as “Mr. Milton Friedman’s article that appeared in Newsweek of August 27, 1973”, Congressional Record, November 7, 1973, p. 36327That explanation is not valid today. In January 1970, the Fed gave primacy in its policy directive to “monetary aggregates” rather than interest rates.
The Inflationary FedColumn, 1973, Newsweek, August 27, 1973; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 7, 1973, p. 36327, introduced by Representative Robert Huber of Michigan as “Mr. Milton Friedman’s article that appeared in Newsweek of August 27, 1973”, Congressional Record, November 7, 1973, p. 36327More frequently, they have moved in the right direction, albeit often too late, but have erred by moving too far. Too late and too much has been the general practice.
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. 223 of the 1968 House reprintThe Federal Reserve System has long displayed a propensity to swing erratically from one extreme to the other, from excessively rapid to excessively slow monetary growth. The propensity has seldom been more dramatically evident than in recent months, which have seen the sharpest swings in monetary growth in decades.
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. 20026