The Federal Reserve offers to the general public numerous publications available at the website of the Federal Reserve Board here.

The Federal Reserve Board testimonies, press releases, monetary policy reports, the Beige Book, and a variety of other publications offer a detailed assessment of current economic activity, financial markets, and the monetary policy tools used to promote economic activity and preserve price stability.

Go to the website of the Federal Reserve Board at www.federalreserve.gov and find the section describing monetary policy tools. Explore conventional and non-conventional tools of monetary policy.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper:

Evaluate the role and effectiveness of the Federal Reserve in stabilizing the economy since the 2007-2009 recession and its continued impact on the current state of the economy:

• Use data from the Fed publications and other sources to support all of your positions.

In your discussion make sure that you cover:

1. The monetary policy tools.
2. The ways in which the Federal Reserve adjusted the tools in response to the financial crisis of 2007–2009.
3. Based on your research, did the financial crisis of 2007-2009 compromise the independence of the Federal Reserve?
4. The strengths and weaknesses of using monetary policy versus fiscal policy when promoting economic activity and preserving price stability.
5. Based on your research, should the Fed change some of its current monetary policy targets, such as the 2-percent inflation target?

Required minimum number of academic quality references: 4