Pre-order

Simon W. Bowmaker · Yale University Press · 2027

Fed Reckoning

Conversations on America’s Central Bank

GovernorsBoard staffBank presidentsScholarsCentral bankersabroadThe pressWall StreetCongressDaniel Tarullo · Governor, 2009–17TarulloElizabeth Duke · Governor, 2008–13DukeJeremy Stein · Governor, 2012–14SteinKevin Warsh · Chair, 2026–presentWarshDonald Kohn · Vice Chair, 2006–10 · Governor from 2002KohnScott Alvarez · General Counsel, 2004–17 · at the Board from 1981AlvarezClaudia Sahm · Board economist, 2007–19SahmAndrew Levin · Board economist, 1992–2012 · adviser to Bernanke and YellenLevinJames Bullard · President, St. Louis, 2008–23BullardNarayana Kocherlakota · President, Minneapolis, 2009–15KocherlakotaJeffrey Lacker · President, Richmond, 2004–17LackerWilliam Dudley · President, New York, 2009–18DudleyEsther George · President, Kansas City, 2011–23GeorgePeter Conti-Brown · The Power and Independence of the Federal ReserveConti-BrownSarah Binder · The Myth of IndependenceBinderJohn Taylor · The Taylor ruleTaylorMervyn King · Governor, Bank of England, 2003–13KingRaghuram Rajan · Governor, Reserve Bank of India, 2013–16RajanDavid Wessel · The Wall Street Journal · In Fed We TrustWesselRebecca Patterson · Chief investment strategist, BridgewaterPattersonBarney Frank · U.S. House, 1981–2013 · Dodd–FrankFrank

Select a face

The book

Fed Reckoning

“When the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, several prominent millionaires were among those who perished. They included Isidor Straus, a banker and owner of Macy’s department store; Benjamin Guggenheim, a builder of mining machinery; and John Jacob Astor, a property tycoon. But John Pierpont Morgan, a financier and investment banker, had dodged death and disaster.

In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating your current position from some previously determined or known position by incorporating an estimate of speed, direction traveled, and elapsed time. It is also used to plan a ship’s future course and required speed. Dead reckoning is the metaphor used in this book to determine the Federal Reserve’s current position and its future path—where it is at and where it is going. This comes at a time when political forces in the United States threaten the Fed’s independence; it finds itself under greater media scrutiny than ever before; and a curious combination continues to exist: the public does not appear to understand what the Fed is—or what it does—but trust in the central bank is low.”

from the introduction
Pre-order

The themes

Seven themes, 21 perspectives

  1. 1

    Structure

    The central bank's unique structure and governance.

  2. 2

    Mandate

    How the Fed has interpreted its dual mandate of price stability and full employment.

  3. 3

    Lender of last resort

    Its evolving — and at times controversial — role in financial stability.

  4. 4

    Hot buttons

    Whether it should be concerned with issues like climate change.

  5. 5

    Accountability

    The appropriate level of accountability to Congress.

  6. 6

    Communication

    Whether the changes to its communications and transparency have helped.

  7. 7

    What's ahead

    How the Fed should prepare for the challenges that may lie ahead.

Praise

  • Sir Paul Tucker
    “We know a lot less than we might about this very powerful organization. Simon Bowmaker’s book comes, therefore, as a major step in making sense of the Fed as a central institution of the modern world.”
    Sir Paul Tucker · from the foreword · former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England
  • Jason Furman
    “Fed Reckoning is a unique and indispensable resource for anyone who cares about central banking. The people who have done the most to shape the Federal Reserve—from the inside and outside—reflect candidly on the most important economic and institutional issues facing our economy today. The result ranges from the personal to the analytical and is essential reading for anyone trying to understand where the Fed has been and where it is headed.”
    Jason Furman · Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard University
  • Robert Hetzel
    “With its interviews of key policymakers, Simon Bowmaker’s book opens wide a door into the often-obscure world of Fed policymaking.”
  • Kenneth Rogoff
    “A treasure trove of interviews of people who have played a notable role in shaping 21st century Federal Reserve policy.”
    Kenneth Rogoff · Maurits C. Boas Professor at Harvard University, former chief economist at the IMF

In the press

Simon W. Bowmaker

The author

Simon W. Bowmaker

Simon Bowmaker is Distinguished Clinical Professor of Economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he has taught since 2007. He has also taught at Stanford, the London School of Economics, Imperial College London, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Through in-depth interviews, his books explore how economists do research, shape policy, and teach, and examine the institutions in which they operate. Fed Reckoning: Conversations on America’s Central Bank follows When the President Calls: Conversations with Economic Policymakers, The Art and Practice of Economics Research, and The Heart of Teaching Economics.

Before academia, he worked as an economist at HSBC Markets, the UK Government Economic Service, and Cambridge Econometrics. He holds degrees from the universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, and St Andrews. He was born and raised in Sunderland, England.

simonbowmaker.com