Fed Policy and Velocity’s Dance

by Jerry O’Driscoll*

The U.S. economy has been growing slowly but steadily since the trough of the Great Recession in June 2009. Deep recessions are typically followed sharp recoveries. Not so this time.

More recently, there is the mystery of low inflation. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core PCE index, has consistently fallen short of its target rate of 2 percent. In July 2017, it came in at a 1.41-percent annual rate. For the Fed, improved growth in employment and the falling unemployment rate should foreshadow a higher inflation rate. The rationale for this is the old Phillips Curve. The reality is that the model is flawed.[1]

Behold: The Recovery Is At Hand

by Mario Rizzo  

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing again at an annual 3.5% rate for the third quarter of 2009. Some people say this means that the recession is over. Apart from the much-touted stubborn unemployment problem, does this make sense? 

What Ended The Great Recession?

by Mario Rizzo  

Some business forecasters with a not-too-bad record are predicting that the recession will be over by the end of the year.  (NBER dates the beginning to December 2007.)  

Of course, the recovery in terms of real output from the Great Depression began in the 3Q of 1933 and that did not preclude high unemployment rates and a further recession in 1937. Here. Let that pass for the moment. 

If recovery begins, the discussion about why will also begin. Let’s confine ourselves to evaluating policies designed by the government to produce recovery.