Tool of monetary policy
All central banks use at least three tools of monetary policy. Most have many more. They all work in an economy. This is done by managing banks' reserves.
The Fed has five such major tools. First, it sets a reserve requirement, which tells banks how much of their money they must have on reserve each night. If it weren't for the reserve requirement, banks would lend 100% of the money you've deposited. Not everyone needs all their money each day, so it is safe for the banks to lend most of it out.
The Fed requires that banks keep 10% of deposits on reserve. That way, they have enough cash on hand to meet most demands for redemption. When the Fed wants to restrict liquidity, it raises the reserve requirement. The Fed only does this as last resort because it requires a lot of paperwork.
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It's much easier to manage banks' reserves using the Fed funds rate. This is the interest rate that banks charge each other to store their excess cash overnight. The target for this rate is set at the eight Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings. The Fed funds rate impacts all other interest rates, including bank loan rates and mortgage rates.
The Fed's third tool is its discount rate. That's it charges banks to borrow funds from the Fed's fourth tool, the discount window. The FOMC usually sets the discount rate a percentage of a point higher than the Fed funds rate. That's because the Fed prefer banks to borrow from each other.
Fourth, the Fed uses open market operations to buy and sell Treasuries and other securities from its member banks. This changes reserve amount that banks have on hand without changing the reserve requirement.
Fifth, many central banks including the Fed use inflation targeting. It clearly sets expectations that they want some inflation. That's because people are more likely to buy now if they know prices are rising.
In addition, the Fed created many new tools to deal with the Great Recession. To find out more, see Federal Reserve Tools.