US Monetary Policy and the Return to Price Stability
This paper assesses the proximate causes of the post pandemic surge in US inflation, the Federal Reserve's real time reaction to and interpretation of incoming data in 2021, and the pivot to raising rates and shrinking the balance sheet that commenced in 2022 and continues in 2023. Particular attention is devoted to the role, if any, that Fed's August 2020 revisions to its monetary policy framework may have played in delaying lift - off relative to counterfactuals informed by simple policy rules, including a framework - consistent "shortfalls" policy rule featured in its semi - annual Monetary Policy Reports.