{"product_id":"2940014441209","title":"Money and Influence: The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions","description":"The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 established the Federal Reserve System as the country’s central bank. The Federal Reserve Act made the Federal Reserve System an independent, decentralized bank to better ensure that monetary policy would be based on a broad economic perspective from all regions of the country. The Federal Reserve Board has defined the term “monetary policy” as the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve System, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, as amended, gave the Federal Reserve System responsibility for setting monetary policy. The Federal Reserve System consists of the Federal Reserve Board located in Washington, D.C.; 12 Reserve Banks, which have 24 branches located throughout the nation; and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is composed of the Board of Governors, as well as five Reserve Bank presidents, serving on a rotating basis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Federal Reserve Board is a federal agency that is responsible for maintaining the stability of financial markets; supervising financial and bank holding companies, state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, and the U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations; and supervising the operations of the Reserve Banks. The top officials of the Federal Reserve Board are the seven members of the Board of Governors who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Although the Federal Reserve Board is required to report to Congress on its activities, its decisions do not have to be approved by either the President or Congress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnlike the Federal Reserve Board, the Reserve Banks are not federal agencies. Each Reserve Bank is a federally chartered corporation with a board of directors. The membership of each Reserve Bank board of directors is determined by a process intended to ensure that each bank board represents the public and member banks in its district. Under the Federal Reserve Act, Reserve Banks are subject to the general supervision of the Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board has delegated some of its responsibilities such as supervision and regulation to the Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve Act authorizes the Reserve Banks to make discount window loans, execute monetary policy operations at the direction of the FOMC, and examine bank holding companies and member banks under rules and regulations prescribed by the Federal Reserve Board. The Reserve Banks also provide payment services, such as check clearing and wire transfers, to depository institutions, Treasury, and government agencies.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn contrast to federal agencies funded through congressional appropriations, the Federal Reserve Board and the Reserve Banks are self-funded entities that deduct their expenses from their revenue and transfer the remaining amount to Treasury. Although the Federal Reserve Board’s primary mission is to support a stable economy, not to maximize the amount transferred to Treasury, the Federal Reserve System revenues contribute to total U.S. revenues, and deductions from System revenues thus represent an indirect cost to U.S. taxpayers.","brand":"Digital Direct Ebooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070608097520,"sku":"2940014441209","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014441209_p0.jpg?v=1763608654","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014441209","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}