Recessions cause substantial economic pain through elevated unemployment and financial distress for individuals, families, and businesses. Monetary policy is a primary tool that U.S. policymakers use to support the macroeconomy and reduce the pain of economic downturns. Equitable Growth works to improve our understanding of how monetary policy affects the business cycle, unemployment, and inequality to deliver robust, broad-based economic growth.
Featured work
New research examines the historical macroeconomic effects of tariffs and sheds light on current U.S. trade policies
March 4, 2026
March 4, 2026
The state of the U.S. economy one year into the second Trump administration
February 23, 2026
February 23, 2026
The Federal Reserve must maintain its independence for the U.S. economy to thrive
August 28, 2025
August 28, 2025
Why measuring inflation is surprisingly challenging
April 5, 2023
April 5, 2023
What are the distributional effects of monetary policy?
November 17, 2022
November 17, 2022
Good U.S. monetary policy can’t fix bad U.S. fiscal policy
February 18, 2020
February 18, 2020
Explore Content in Monetary Policy263
U.S. inflationary trends amid the COVID-19 pandemic
December 13, 2022
December 13, 2022
A review of federal lending to small business owners of color during the COVID-19 pandemic
December 13, 2022
December 13, 2022
Early evidence on federal government income supports for U.S. individuals, workers, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic
December 13, 2022
December 13, 2022
What are the distributional effects of monetary policy?
November 17, 2022
November 17, 2022
Monetary Policy, Labor Income Redistribution and the Credit Channel: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee and Credit Registers
November 17, 2022
November 17, 2022
The Fed is aggressively but perhaps deliberately playing catch-up on inflation
November 2, 2022
November 2, 2022
Monetary Policy and the Dynamics of Wealth Inequality
August 29, 2022
August 29, 2022
Policymakers tackling inflation can’t overlook the impact of higher interest rates on the U.S. child care market
August 11, 2022
August 11, 2022
Factsheet: Is the U.S. economy in a recession, and how does recession dating work?
August 10, 2022
August 10, 2022
NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 3
August 1, 2022
August 1, 2022
NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 2
July 26, 2022
July 26, 2022
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