Provide the article title and author (if available) for any article you read. Remember the aim of this assignment is to acquaint you with some sources of
information available on the Internet.
1. Go to the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and find the “Program Archives.” Use the information on this web site to define the following terms:
(a) Term Securities lending facility
(b) Commercial paper funding facility
(c) Money Market Investor funding facility
(d) Primary dealer credit facility
(e) List of primary dealers
Describe the facility, the market and the goals, e.g. liquidity, of each facility (go to the FAQs section). Write no more than a paragraph on
each.
2. Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet: Go to
www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.pdf
to see a recent balance sheet statement for the Federal Reserve System.
(a) Discuss the various components of the balance sheet, linking the balance sheet to the various facilities discussed in the previous question.
In a paragraph, discuss the moral hazard problems that may arise and discuss the problems with the quality of the collateral. What kind of risk is the Federal Reserve potentially taking on?
(b) What are the repurchase agreements on the asset side?
(c) What is Maiden Lane LLC? You will need to look at table 2.
(d) On the liabilities side, what are reverse repurchase agreements?
(e) What fraction of total assets is currency in circulation?
(f) What fraction of total assets is reserves?
(g) Look at the H.4.1 for December 2007. Discuss the differences between
the balance sheets from Fall 2011 and December 2007.
(h) The Federal Reserve has been pursuing a policy of quantitative easing.
Describe the impact of quantitative easing on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet.
3. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFS) have become very popular in the last 3-5
years. How do ETFs and standard mutual funds differ? (Hint: in the
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