Federal Reserve Asset Acquisition: A Proposal
区分了货币与信用政策，提出美联储应仅收购国库券，并与财政部合作以确保在无其他发债需求时仍能持有国债，以维护财政政策完整性和美联储独立性。
Federal Reserve Asset Acquisition:A Proposal J. Alfred Broaddus Jr. (bio) and Marvin Goodfriend (bio) This presentation summarizes the framework for thinking about Federal Reserve asset acquisition that Al Broaddus and I orginally laid out in the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond 2000 Annual Report.1 That essay had two objectives. First, we provided a context for thinking about the broad asset acquisition policy of the Federal Reserve. Second, we proposed that the Fed and the Treasury cooperate to ensure that the Fed could continue to acquire and hold Treasury securities even if the Treasury had no other reason to issue debt. This summary begins in section 1 by distinguishing between monetary and credit policy. Building on that distinction, section 2 presents our guiding principles for Fed asset acquisition: respect for the integrety of fiscal policy and support for Fed independence. Section 3 contains our proposal for the Fed to follow a Treasuries-only policy with the cooperation of the Treasury. Section 4 evaluates our proposal from the perspective of the fiscal authorities. Our argument is restated briefly in the conclusion. 1. Monetary Policy and Credit Policy The distinction between monetary and credit policy is straightforward. Monetary policy is undertaken in pursuit of the Fed's overall macroeconomic objectives—the maintenance of low inflation in order to facilitate economic growth and efficient use of the nation's resources. Monetary policy determines the size of the Fed's balance sheet through open market operations that support interest rate policy actions. From the standpoint of conducting monetary policy the composition of the Federal Reserve's asset portfolio is largely a matter of indifference. [End Page 946] Credit policy, as distinct from monetary policy, involves the choice of Federal Reserve assets, that is, the allocation of Federal Reserve credit, given the overall size of the Fed's balance sheet. For example, the Fed takes a credit policy action when it funds a discount window loan to a commercial bank with proceeds from selling Treasury securities. In this case, the Fed would be redirecting credit from the Treasury to a private bank. The important point is this: monetary policy determines the quantity of the monetary base and, as a byproduct, establishes the aggregate amount of credit that the Fed will extend. Fed credit policy, on the other hand, determines how this given aggregate amount of credit will be allocated across alternative assets. 2. Guiding Principles for Fed Asset Acquisition We begin this section by reviewing the importance of Fed independence for the conduct of monetary policy. Then we propose two principles to guide the Fed's acquisition of assets: that asset acquisitions should respect the integrity of fiscal policy, and that acquisitions should protect the independence of the Federal Reserve. We explain why restricting the Fed's asset purchases to Treasury securities satisfies both principles. We also explain how the acquisition of assets other than Treasury securities could undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve, and with it the effectiveness of monetary policy. 2.1 The Importance of Fed Independence Three aspects of independence support Fed monetary policy. First, instrument independence enables the Fed to adjust the federal funds rate target over time to achieve its monetary policy objectives. Second, the public understands that Fed monetary policy determines the trend rate of inflation over any substantial period of time. In effect, the Fed's independent commitment to low inflation has come to substitute for the gold standard as the nominal anchor for U.S. monetary policy. Beyond these first two aspects of Fed independence, Congress early on recognized that the Fed needed financial independence in order to conduct monetary policy effectively. The Fed is allowed to fund its operations from interest earnings on its portfolio of securities, and the FOMC is given wide discretion regarding the size and composition of its portfolio. The Fed was exempted from the Congressional appropriations process in order to keep the political system from abusing its money creation powers. Financial independence also frees the Fed from the need to obtain Congressional or Treasury approval for its purchase and sale of assets and its extension of discount window loans, which enables the Fed to react quickly to unanticipated short-run...