What is the Beige Book, and what role does it play in setting interest rates for monetary policy?
We’ve been waiting for this question! Here is the short answer describing the Beige Book from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s web site. This is the same site you should use to find current and historic national and regional Beige Book survey results: Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. Beige Book and the Federal Open Market Committee The Beige Book is one of the many inputs to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) that helps the Committee to formulate monetary policy—mainly through adjustments to the federal funds interest rate target.
