Long-run price stability is generally considered to be a primary goal of monetary policymakers in many countries. One reason policymakers care about inflation is that it can harm economic performance. Numerous studies of the impact of inflation on economic performance have focused on whether...

Increased interest rate volatility in recent years has led to a greater volatility in profits at savings and loan associations. To help stabilize their profits, some S&L's are implementing interest rate hedging programs. These programs use financial instruments such as interest rate swaps,...

While there is widespread agreement that banks play a key part in the transmission of monetary policy actions to the economy, debate continues on whether bank lending plays a special part in the monetary transmission mechanism. If a special lending or credit channel exists, changes in the...