Question

During the late 70s and early 80s, the U.S. economy faced an inflationary period. The chairman of the Fed at that time, Paul Vocker, pursued a monetary policy to reduce inflation in the long run. The principal method used by the Federal Reserve to change the money supply is through open market operations. (a) Which policy would accomplish the Fed's goal to reduce inflation (buy or sell bonds) in the long run

Answer 1

Answer: Sell bonds

Explanation:

One reason there could be inflation in an economy is the high supply of money in the economy. With a high supply, people would have more money and so would demand more goods and services which would take the prices of those goods and services up thereby causing demand pull inflation.

If the Fed wants to reduce this inflation, they need to reduce the amount of money in the economy. They will do this by selling bonds to the public who will then pay in cash which the Fed will then take out of circulation thereby leading to a lower money supply and theoretically, less inflation.