Season 2 Episode 27

What is the Fed? with Jason DeBacker

• Host
• Dr. Kasie Whitener, Clinical Assistant Professor, Management
• Guest
• Dr. Jason DeBacker, Associate Professor, Economics

When last we had him on Moore Impact, Jason DeBacker helped us understand the On Big Beautiful Bill’s positives and negatives. He also talked about the impact of protectionist policies on trade. In this episode, we ask him to explain the Federal Reserve and its role in economic policy.

Jason M. DeBacker is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the Darla Moore School of Business. His research interests lie in the areas of public finance and macroeconomics. He has published papers on these topics in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Law and Economics, the Journal of Public Economics, the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and other outlets. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a financial economist in the Office of Tax Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Topics in this discussion include:

• What is the Federal Reserve
• The Federal Reserve’s mandate and the tools it uses to fulfill it
• Treasury bonds and interest rates
• The 2008 economic crisis and the Fed’s response
• COVID and the Fed’s behavior
• How the consumer is affected by the Fed’s behaviors
• The structure of the Federal Reserve
• Jason’s newest book project on the economics of longer lifespans

To learn more about Jason DeBacker click here.

Learn more about the Darla Moore School here

Episode picture courtesy TheBalance.com

Moore Impact is a product of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. For episodes, notes, and links visit sc.edu/moore