21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19

The Great Inflation of the 1960s–70s, the global financial crisis of 2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2022 are only some of the trials the United States has faced. Yet despite these shocks, the American economy remains among the strongest in the world. One of the key explanations is the role of the Federal Reserve System.

In his book, Ben Bernanke shows just how significant the tools the Fed’s leaders have used for nearly a hundred years are, and breaks down:
- which turning points in the economy depended on central bank decisions;
- who headed the Federal Reserve and how these people weathered crises;
- what challenges the Fed will have to face next—from a new wave of inflation and the development of cryptocurrencies to the growing threats of financial instability.

Ben Bernanke is the 2022 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics and the Fed Chair from 2006 to 2014; in 2009 Time magazine named him “Man of the Year.”