Question

Three research documents (books) play an important role in the monetary process and at the Federal Open Market Committee meetings. What are the three books to which the FOMC has access and what information is included in each?

Answer 1

The three books are Green book,Blue book and Beige book.

Green book which is officially known as Current Economic and Financial conditions gives a detailed analysis of US and international economy.It is distributed to the FOMC members a week before the meeting.It is referred as green book because of its cover.In the beginning the green book was a single document of 50 pages but after sometime it was divided into two parts because of its growing length.The first part stated economic developments in US and international economy and part two described economic developments into three categories namely domestic nonfinancial,domestic financial and international.

Blue book which is known as Monetary policy alternatives was the work of the staff of the board of governors.It is given to the members one day after the distribution of green book.The light blue cover give its name.It was made in 1965 to give the members an insight into monetary policy.

Beige book known as summary of commentary on current economic conditions by Federal reserve district is called beige book because of its cover.The staff of the Reserve bank gets the credit for producing it.It is given to the membersof FOMC two weeks before the meeting.It was published in 1963.