What does the board of governors do within the fed?
The Fed can use three tools to carry out its monetary policy goals: the discount rate, reserve requirements and open market operations. All three affect the amount of funds in the banking system. The discount rate is the interest rate Reserve banks charge banks for short-term loans. Discount rate changes are made by Reserve banks and the Board of Governors. Reserve requirements are the portions of deposits that banks must hold in reserve, either in their vaults or on deposit at a Reserve bank. The Board of Governors has sole authority over changes to reserve requirements. By far, the most frequently used tool is open market operations, which involve the buying and selling of U.S. government securities. As we learned earlier, this tool is directed by the FOMC and carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. We’ll have to get technical to explain how this works.
