Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said in an MNI webcast Tuesday he would be "open minded" on phasing out the Fed's mortgage bond buys faster or sooner than its Treasury purchases but would prefer a simple tapering strategy overall.

"I have some preference for the least-drama way of moving back to normal," Barkin said.

Both sides of the debate are "appealing," he added. Even as the housing market is "pretty hot" right now, trying to differentiate the kind of liquidity the Fed is providing markets "feels complicated." "There's some downside to getting too clever," he said. Former Fed officials don't believe agency mortgage-backed securities will get special treatment in the tapering program, MNI has reported.

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Research staff regularly monitors the national economy, helping the Richmond Fed grasp current conditions and their implications for monetary policy. Updated weekly, the following data is part of the information presented during policy discussions and meetings with our board of directors.

This episode shares part of a presentation by Laura Ullrich, the Richmond Fed's regional economist based in Charlotte. Ullrich spoke about wage, income and wealth inequality, an issue that was brought into high relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her talk was recorded at the Travelers Aid International Conference in June 2019.

June 24, 2021

Maryland businesses reported growth in June, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The general business conditions and sales indexes stood at 31 and 19, respectively, in June, down from 39 and 32 in May but still firmly in expansionary territory. Businesses also reported increased capital spending and were optimistic that conditions would continue to improve in the near future.

June 24, 2021

Businesses in the Carolinas saw growth in June, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The general business conditions and sales indexes came in at 34 and 12, respectively, in June. These values were lower than their readings of 36 and 25 in May, but still indicative of growth. Businesses also reported increased capital spending, and they were optimistic that business conditions would improve further in the near future.

Introduction

Over the last 14 months, the U.S. Congress has taken a series of unprecedented fiscal steps to support the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to help the economy bounce back from the recession. We’ve been following these steps, including the impacts on state revenues, the extension and enhancement of unemployment benefits, and the availability of rental assistance, among other topics. The response from Congress has also included help for state, local, and tribal governments facing new budgetary demands in an unpredictable fiscal environment. As discussed in a Regional Matters post last year, many states were predicting significant revenue declines due to the pandemic. Those predictions, however, especially for state governments within the Fifth District, have most times proven to be far more severe than reality, as local governments have reported significant reductions in revenue related to the economic shutdowns.1 Over the last year, both...

Our Bank has a robust Women in Technology community, which supports the development and advancement of all women currently in or interested in technology roles across the Federal Reserve System.

Today we caught up with Amy Brewer, a senior technical and process trainer, who began her technology career at the Fed five years ago. In our Q&A, Amy shares her career journey and a few lessons learned.

What was your first job out of college?

I worked as an assistant — during graduate school — to the vice president of Human Resources at a bank. She [the VP] was extraordinary and kept me in the loop of everything she did. I learned more from her in nine months than I did in graduate school.

Your academic background is in foreign language, literature and teaching. How did that journey lead you to the Fed?

Young people often think that a career is somehow going to be a linear path, but it’s never that. Instead, careers tend to overlap and run...

Zhu Wang, the Richmond Fed's vice president for research in financial and payments systems, will discuss central bank digital currency (CBDC) on the Fed@YourDesk Webinar on June 23 at 12 p.m. ET. Hosted by the Chicago Fed, Fed@YourDesk webinars feature presentations by Federal Reserve System researchers on current events and issues. Wang will discuss the costs and benefits of CBDC using insight that he and Research colleagues and co-authors Jessie Romero and Russell Wong shared in a recent article.

While the savings of retired singles tend to fall with age, those of retired couples tend to rise. We estimate a rich model of retired singles and couples with bequest motives and uncertain longevity and medical expenses. Our estimates imply that while medical expenses are an important driver of the savings of middle-income singles, bequest motives matter for couples and high-income singles and generate transfers to nonspousal heirs whenever a household member dies. The interaction of medical expenses and bequest motives is a crucial determinant of savings for all retirees. Hence, to understand savings, it is important to model household structure, medical expenses, and bequest motives.