Solving policy problems, at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere

Addressing policy problems involves teamwork, leadership, and clear communications—examples range from addressing the 9/11 crisis to passing the Check-21 Act. The U.S. continues to face the major problems of financing retirement and health care. There are no magic answers—it is an interesting time to be an economist thinking about entitlements. Climate change is another area that economists are trained to think about, and it may be starting to play into conversations about central banking, adding to questions about the use of nontraditional tools. While there are proposals to increase the use of automatic fiscal stabilizers, these may look simple, but are quite complex in reality. © 2020, National Association for Business Economics.