##ed from the aggregate statistics we often consult. another panel discussion moderated by federal reserve bank of boston president eric rosengren offered valuable perspectives about how the monetary levers we pull and push affect communities, credit availability, and small businesses. in addition to the chicago conference, 7 of the 12 reserve banks have hosted fed listens sessions, and other events are planned for later this year. from these listening sessions, we have heard about innovative partnerships involving employers, workforce development groups, and community colleges to fill training gaps, and about greater flexibility in the workplace around entry requirements and working arrangements. this innovation and flexibility are coming when the labor market is tight and qualified - 13 workers are scarce, and so are welcome developments from the perspective of job creation and retention. all of our fed listens events are being conducted with a high degree of transparency. ( you can view videos of the events or read the summaries on our website. ) in coming regularly scheduled fomc meetings, we will begin our own assessment of our monetary policy strategy, tools, and communication practices, informed by what we heard at the conference and during our listening sessions in the federal reserve districts and by the work of our staff. when the committee tackles important issues, we take the time for wide - ranging and candid discussions, and so i expect our deliberations will continue over several meetings for the remainder of this year. we will share our findings with the public when we have completed our review, likely during the first half of next year. concluding thoughts the economy is constantly evolving, bringing with it new policy challenges. so it makes sense for us to remain open minded as we assess current practices and consider ideas that could potentially enhance our ability to deliver on the goals the congress has assigned us. for this reason, my colleagues and i do not want to preempt or to predict our ultimate finding. what i can say is that any refinements or more material changes to our framework that we might make will be aimed solely at enhancing our ability to achieve and sustain our dual - mandate objectives in the world we live in today. - 14 references aaronson, stephanie r., mary c. daly, william wascher, and david w. wilcox ( 2019 ). “ okun revisited : who benefits most from a strong economy? ” paper presented at the brookings papers on economic activity conference, held at the brookings institution, washington, march 7 – 8, https : / / www. brookings. ed

unemployment rate is near a 50 - year low, and inflation is running close to our 2 percent objective. by conducting this review, we are ensuring that we are well positioned to continue to meet our statutory goals in coming years. in addition, the federal reserve used new policy tools and enhanced its communications in response to the global financial crisis and the great recession, and the review is evaluating these changes. furthermore, u. s. and foreign economies have significantly evolved since the pre - crisis experience that informed much of the research that provided the foundation for our current approach. perhaps most significantly, neutral interest rates — or r * — appear to have fallen in the united states and abroad. 3 moreover, this global decline in r * is widely expected to persist for years. the decline in neutral policy rates likely reflects several factors, including aging populations, changes in risk - taking behavior, and a slowdown in technology growth. these factors ’ contributions are highly uncertain, but, irrespective of their precise role, the policy implications of the decline in neutral rates are important. all else being equal, a fall in neutral rates increases the likelihood that a central bank ’ s policy rate will reach its effective lower bound ( elb ) in future economic downturns. that development, in turn, could make it more difficult during downturns for monetary policy to support spending and employment, and keep inflation from falling too low. 4 for evidence of a fall in neutral rates of interest in the united states and abroad, see, among several contributions, king and low ( 2014 ) ; holston, laubach, and williams ( 2017 ) ; rachel and smith ( 2017 ) ; and brand, bielecki, and penalver ( 2018 ). for assessments of the risks that u. s. monetary policy will be constrained by the elb and its implications for economic activity and inflation, see kiley and roberts ( 2017 ), erceg and others ( 2018 ), swanson ( 2018 ), and chung and others ( 2019 ). - 3another key development in recent decades is that inflation appears less responsive to resource slack. that is, the short - run phillips curve appears to have flattened, implying a change in the dynamic relationship between inflation and employment. 5 a flatter phillips curve is, in a sense, a proverbial double - edged sword. it permits the federal reserve to support employment more aggressively during downturns — as was the case during and after the great recession — because