Economic Commentary

ECONOMY AND POLICY June 19, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. In her recent book, “The Deficit Myth,” Stephanie Kelton, a professor at Stony Brook University, writes about many of the common misperceptions surrounding government debt and deficits. Kelton is a proponent of Modern Monetary Theory, an approach widely rejected by academic economists, and was […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY June 19, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. Stock market participants were encouraged by the sharp (but partial) rebound in retail sales in May, but discouraged by reports of increased cases of COVID-19 in a number of states. Fed Chair Powell’s semiannual monetary policy testimony covered no new […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY June 12, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has formally declared that a recession began in February. The expansion lasted 128 months, the longest on record (at least back to 1854). Economic data reports should suggest that the downturn may have ended […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY June 12, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. The Federal Open Market Committee left short-term interest rates unchanged following its June 9-10 policy meeting and kept its asset purchase plans in place. The Fed released revised projections of growth, unemployment and inflation (after it had refrained from doing […]