Finance 101

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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
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The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions
Provides a detailed look at the structure, responsibilities, and operations of the Federal Reserve System. Revised in 2005 to reflect changes in monetary, regulatory, and other policy areas. Incorporates major changes in the law and in the structure of the financial system in the past decade.

FRB: The Federal Reserve System Purposes and Functions
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The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United
States. It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the
nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary
and financial system. Over the years, its role in banking and
the economy has expanded.
Today, the Federal Reserve’s duties fall into four general areas:
• conducting the nation’s monetary policy by inf luencing the monetary
and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment,
stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates
• supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety
and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to
protect the credit rights of consumers
• maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing
systemic risk that may arise in financial markets
• providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government,
and foreign official institutions, including playing a major
role in operating the nation’s payments system
Most developed countries have a central bank whose functions are broadly
similar to those of the Federal Reserve. The oldest, Sweden’s Riksbank,
has existed since 1668 and the Bank of England since 1694. Napoleon I
established the Banque de France in 1800, and the Bank of Canada began
operations in 1935. The German Bundesbank was reestablished after
World War II and is loosely modeled on the Federal Reserve. More recently,
some functions of the Banque de France and the Bundesbank have
been assumed by the European Central Bank, formed in 1998.
Background
During the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century,
financial panics plagued the nation, leading to bank failures and
business bankruptcies that severely disrupted the economy. The failure
of the nation’s banking system to effectively provide funding to troubled
depository institutions contributed significantly to the economy’s vulnerability
to financial panics. Short-term credit is an important source of
liquidity when a bank experiences unexpected and widespread withdrawals
during a financial panic. A particularly severe crisis in 1907 prompted

Page 1
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pf/pdf/pf_1.pdf


Yes Douger, Progressivism is bad. Progressivism kills. Government Capitalism. State Control of weath. The Silent Partner Douger, Whom you deny is the Major Player here. Government.
 

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