, and their balance sheets are strong. the reports on first - quarter earnings have been quite positive, and available measures of credit quality, such as credit ratings and loan defaults, show few signs of stress. financing costs have moved up since last fall, but the federal reserve ’ s most recent survey of bank lending practices, which was conducted in april, indicates that domestic banks are noticing increases in requests for business loans. they also indicated an increased willingness to supply business loans in an environment of brisk competition from other lenders, a liquid secondary market for business loans, and an increased tolerance for risk. in that regard, research conducted by federal reserve economists notes that more banks are offering loans to businesses in markets where the banks do not have branch offices ; the research suggests that new technology has spurred competition for some types of small business lending in recent years. more broadly, businesses currently have access to plentiful debt and equity financing from a variety of sources in addition to banks. the challenge that community development practitioners face in working with businesses looking for new investment opportunities is to demonstrate through careful analysis that promising inner - city neighborhoods can be good investments. that the current overall conditions for business investment are positive is thus good news for the work of social compact and its partners. the importance of data to investment decisions community development has come a long way since i first began following it as a young congressional staffer thirty - five years ago. whereas government programs once funded the bulk of inner - city development, public - private partnerships now dominate. in many places, community - based organizations have been able to " jump start " markets by facilitating private investment. the focus of neighborhood revitalization has shifted increasingly toward market - based approaches. in that regard, organizations that seek to promote neighborhood revitalization must focus on what makes their projects competitive. social compact is perhaps best known for its focus on one important input into the investment process - information. timely and accurate information is what project planners need to bring entrepreneurs, investors, and lenders together to objectively assess the proposed undertaking. having been a banker, i know very well how much more efficient the process can be when decisionmakers are presented with a clear assessment of the projected returns and a balanced analysis of risk. another related feature of market - based investment decisions is the importance of built - in measures of accountability. hard data on results are important in establishing the credibility of projects. with data, and results, such investments can also serve as catalysts for additional private investment in

inflation expectations aligned with the committee ’ s 2 percent target. a central topic of fomc meeting discussions throughout 2019 was how monetary policy strategies and tools could best achieve the committee ’ s dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment when structurally low interest rates and disinflationary forces kept inflation persistently under the committee ’ s inflation target. there was also a concern that the federal funds rate, the fomc ’ s key policy rate, was too close to the “ zero lower bound. ” and that this proximity could limit the committee ’ s ability to respond effectively to an adverse shock by using our primary monetary policy tool of lowering the target range for the federal funds rate. more broadly, many central banks around the world were grappling with the prospect of structurally lower interest rates due to a variety of factors, including demographic changes and higher savings rates, lower potential output and productivity growth, and greater investor demand for safe assets like treasury securities. at the time, the fomc assessed that downward risks to both employment and inflation were likely to remain prominent due to the proximity of interest rates to the zero lower bound. in august 2020, the fomc significantly revised its statement on longer - run goals and monetary policy strategy to reflect this assessment. 4 a notable change relative to the initial for example, the range of estimates of the longer - run level of the unemployment rate in the summary of economic projections ( sep ) in march 2013 was 5. 0 to 6. 0 percent. this range shifted lower over time. in the most recent ( march 2024 ) sep, the range of estimates of the longer - run unemployment rate was 3. 7 to 4. 3 percent. the march 2013 and march 2024 seps are available on the board ’ s website at https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / monetarypolicy / fomccalendars. htm. for an overview of these revisions and their rationale, see jerome h. powell ( 2020 ), “ new economic challenges and the fed ’ s monetary policy review, ” speech delivered at “ navigating the decade ahead : implications for - 4statement adopted in 2012 was a change in the language addressing how the fomc would conduct monetary policy. the new statement noted that the committee would seek “ to mitigate shortfalls [ emphasis added ] ” — rather than “ deviations ” — “ of employment from the committee ’ s assessment of its maximum level and deviations