The Federal Reserve has economic and political headaches
The Fed was right to raise rates this week. Life will get harder from here
WHEN, a year ago, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, it did not intend to dilly-dally. Rate-setters pencilled in four more rises for 2016. In the end it took until this week for the Fed to lift rates again, to a target range of 0.5-0.75%. The delay reflected both a wobbly world economy and the Fed’s realisation that the structural forces keeping rates low, such as slow productivity growth, are more powerful than it had previously thought.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Janet’s job"
From the December 17th 2016 edition
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