Use the Fed's own publications to explain how changes in the money supply can affect growth and price stability. Open Market Operations are directed by the Federal Open Market Committee and carried out by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The FOMC meets eight times per year, or about every six to seven weeks. Central bankers would usually prefer to work in secrecy. But the general operating rules of a democracy require openness. The compromise reached with respect to the FOMC allows them to meet in private, but before (or at) each meeting the FOMC must release the minutes of its previous meeting. The minutes and statements of FOMC meetings are often intentionally vague, written in a language that some call "Fedspeak." In addition to the regular macroeconomic statistics such as the latest GDP figures, unemployment rate, price indexes, index of leading indicators, etc., the FOMC is guided by the Beige Book The Beige Book examines economic conditions on a region-by-region basis (each Federal Reserve district is a region for these purposes). It also draws on interviews with business leaders and other anecdotal information that sometimes gives FOMC members a feel for the economy that statistics alone do not provide.
Read the summary of the most recent Beige Book. How would you characterize the state of the economy? What do you predict for the near future?