Introduction

The Federal Reserve's 2013 centenary would have been a suitable occasion to run a check on our central bank, grade its performance, and decide whether and how it might be improved. That duty would seem to have been especially compelling in light of recent decisions by Fed officials to alter the structure and purposes of the institution with which they have been entrusted, and the widespread public dissatisfaction with those decisions. In earlier eras, national monetary institutions were adopted, revised, or rejected after vigorous political debates over their purposes and the prospects of achieving them.