Focus on the Taylor Rule

This handout provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.

From the FRED Blog

The post “The Taylor Rule” discusses how the output gap and current inflation can guide monetary policymaking.

From the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

The essay “Policy Rules and How Policymakers Use Them” discusses several monetary policy rules that have received attention in the academic research literature.

Focus on People Saving Worldwide

This handout provides instructions on building the map below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.

From the FRED Blog

The post “Saving for college” discusses how tax-free withdrawals from 529 plans have boosted the use of those saving plans to pay for college.

Quiz Yourself on the Economics of Saving

The FRED graph above shows the US personal saving rate.

Q1. Between 2009 and 2023, when did the personal saving rate peak?

Q2. Between 2009 and 2023, when was the personal saving rate at its lowest?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

The FRED graph above shows the shares of college saving plans and pre-paid plans in 529 saving accounts.

Q1. Between 1996 and 2022, when was the share of college saving plans at its lowest?

Q1. Between 1996 and 2022, when was the share of college saving plans at its highest?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

The FRED graph above shows the value of individual retirement accounts, for both employees and the self-employed, adjusted for consumer price inflation.

Q1. Between 1984 and 2023, when did the value of individual retirement accounts peak?

Q1. By how much did the value of individual retirement accounts increase between 1984 and 1991?

You can share these graphs with your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.

Focus on Worldwide Bank Deposits

This handout provides instructions on building the map below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.

From the FRED Blog

The post “How to gauge the world’s banking markets? Look to the World Bank” discusses a way to measure the degree of banking competition reported by the World Bank.

Quiz Yourself on the Economics of Banking

The FRED map above shows the number of bank branches per 100,000 adults by nation in 2019.

Q1. In 2019, what nation had the largest number of branches per 100,000 adults in the world?

Q2. In 2019, what nation had the smallest number of branches per 100,000 adults in North America?

The FRED graph above shows the number of commercial banks in the US between 1984 and 2019.

Q1. Between 1984 and 2019, when was the number of commercial banks in the US the highest?

Q1. As the number of commercial banks in the US decreases, is the banking industry becoming more concentrated or less concentrated?

The FRED graph above shows banks’ returns on assets by nation in 2020.

Q1. Name two nations reporting negative bank returns on assets in 2020.

Q1. If the reported bank returns on assets are negative, is the banking industry in that nation profitable?

You can share these graphs with your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.

Focus on Electricity Production

This handout provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.

From the FRED Blog

The post “There’s electricity in the air! But it’s not for sale” discusses how electricity production growth outpaced electricity sales growth because a growing proportion of electricity consumers generate at least some of their own power.

Quiz Yourself on the Economics of Electricity

The FRED graph above shows the annual inflation rate for electricity prices (the blue bars) and for all consumption items less energy (the green bars).

Q1. In both 2021 and 2022, which inflation rate was higher?

Q2. Between 2013 and 2020, when did electricity prices decrease?

The FRED graph above shows the seasonal changes in electricity and gas production in the US between 1939 and 1960.

Q1. Between 1939 and 1960, during which quarter did electricity and gas production tend to peak?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

The FRED graph above shows the seasonal changes in electricity and gas production in the US between 1999 and 2023.

Q1. Between 1999 and 2023, during which quarters did electricity and gas production tend to peak?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

You can share these graphs with your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.

Focus on Measures of Core Inflation

This handout provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.

From the FRED Blog

The post “Gauging underlying inflation” briefly describes the concept of underlying inflation trends and reviews FRED’s substantial repository of measures of trend inflation. You can also check this short video of Mark Wright explaining various inflation measures.

Quiz Yourself on Measures of Core Inflation

The FRED graph shows three personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index data series from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis: the all-items inflation rate (the green dotted line); one inflation rate excluding the energy and housing categories (the blue line); and one inflation rate excluding the food, energy, and housing categories (the red line).

Q1. Between April 2020 and May 2021, which inflation rate was highest?

Q2. Between June 2021 and February 2023, which inflation rate was highest?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

The FRED graph shows two consumer price index (CPI) inflation rates: the all-items inflation rate from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (the black dashed line) and the underlying inflation gauge, full data set measure, from the New York Fed (the red line).

Q1. Between July 2020 and February 2021, which inflation rate was higher?

Q2. Between March 2021 and May 2023, which inflation rate was lower?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

The FRED graph shows two personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation rates: the PCE inflation rate from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (the orange dotted line) and the trimmed mean PCE inflation rate the Dallas Fed (the green dashed line).

Q1. Between April 2020 and January 2021, which inflation rate was higher?

Q2. Between February 2021 and February 2023, which inflation rate was higher?

Read this FRED Blog post to learn more about those data.

You can share these graphs with your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.