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Even Keel and the Great Inflation

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  • Victoria Consolvo
  • Owen F. Humpage
  • Sanchita Mukherjee

Abstract

During the early part of the Great Inflation (1965-1975), the Federal Reserve undertook even-keel operations to assist the US Treasury’s coupon security sales. Accordingly, the central bank delayed any tightening of monetary policy and permanently injected reserves into the banking system. Using real-time Taylor-type and McCallum-like reaction functions, we show that the Fed routinely undertook these operations only when it was otherwise tightening monetary policy. Using a quantity-equation framework, we show that the Federal Reserve’s even-keel actions added approximately one percentage point to the overall 5.1 percent average annual inflation rate over these years.

Suggested Citation

  • Victoria Consolvo & Owen F. Humpage & Sanchita Mukherjee, 2020. "Even Keel and the Great Inflation," Working Papers 20-33, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwq:88977
    DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-202033
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    1. Michael D. Bordo, 2016. "The Operation and Demise of the Bretton Woods System; 1958 to 1971," Economics Working Papers 16116, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
    2. Christopher Hanes, 2019. "Quantitative Easing in the 1930s," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(5), pages 1169-1207, August.
    3. Michael D. Bordo & Mickey D. Levy, 2021. "Do enlarged fiscal deficits cause inflation? The historical record," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 59-83, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Even Keel; Great Inflation; Federal Reserve; US Treasury;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations

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