By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Identify U.S. budget deficit and surplus trends over the past five decades
Explain the differences between the U.S. federal budget, and state and local budgets

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain the reason for open market operations
Evaluate reserve requirements and discount rates
Interpret and show bank activity through balance sheets

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain the structure and organization of the U.S. Federal Reserve
Discuss how central banks impact monetary policy, promote financial stability, and provide banking services

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe microeconomics
Describe macroeconomics
Contrast monetary policy and fiscal policy

Discusses the country's need for the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve to be less secretive and more transparent. Link to file that requires Adobe Reader.

A comprehensive look at the economic condition of the 1970s termed stagflation. Authors take a different view noting that oil price increases were not as essential to stagflation as thought. They develop the relationship between monetary policy, stagflation and the oil market in this paper complete with concluding remarks on the origins and explanation of stagflation.