Journal Article
Reducing the federal deficit: approaches in some other countries
Lindner, John; Carroll, Daniel R. (2011-10)
The United States is not the first advanced modern economy to face a serious federal budget challenge. A number of countries have seen their debt rise to unacceptable levels in recent decades, and they have taken steps to rein it in. We explore the approaches that Canada and the United Kingdom have used. Though there are important differences in approaches and countries, we draw five useful lessons for the reforms that may be proposed in the U.S. as it addresses its fiscal challenges.
Economic Commentary , Issue Oct

Journal Article
W(h)ither the Fed’s balance sheet?
Lindner, John; Haubrich, Joseph G.; Carlson, John B. (2010-07)
Federal Reserve policymakers have expressed their support for ultimately shrinking the Fed?s balance sheet and returning the composition of its portfolio to only Treasury securities. Policymakers also favor returning to a fed-funds-rate-targeting procedure or something quite similar. While Fed holdings of some asset classes have been diminishing naturally, the orderly reduction of others could involve special tools that the Fed has been putting in place for a while. An ongoing issue will be to determine an optimal sequence of appropriate actions.
Economic Commentary , Issue Jul