As a part of briefing, the department contributes a report on current district economic conditions for the Beige Book , a collection and summary of the regional reports from the 12 district Feds. To prepare the Ninth District's report, a research assistant telephones firms in the district to ask how business is going. An economist then analyzes the responses and, using other regional data as well, writes the report. For briefing, the department's technical-support staff runs computer programs for models of the U.S. and Ninth District economies. The national model, which forecasts 46 economic variables, takes about three hours to run on the Bank's mainframe computer at about 50 percent of the computer's capacity.
Economists then provide written analyses of the model forecasts for the briefing materials.
Also included in the briefing materials is the most recent version of a summary of national economic conditions written by the staff for the bank's board of directors. The summary is used to help Stern and the directors make recommendations to the Washington Board about setting the district's discount rate. On briefing day, usually the day before the FOMC meeting, Stern and the economists convene to discuss the current state of the economy, answer his questions about economic developments and advise him on what policy positions might be the best response to current trends. At the Minneapolis Fed, Research Department economists who are experts in banking and finance assess the applications of local bank holding companies for creating new banks or merging existing ones. In their assessments, the staff weighs factors like existing competition in the area, convenience to customers and the financial needs of the community.