mention two initiatives. first, to improve public access to information concerning fed policies and programs, in coming days we will unveil a new website that will bring together in a systematic and comprehensive way the full range of information that the federal reserve already makes available, supplemented by explanations, discussions, and analyses. second, at my request, board vice chairman donald kohn is leading a committee that will review our current publications and disclosure policies relating to the fed's balance sheet and lending policies. the presumption of the committee will be that the public has a right to know, and that the nondisclosure of information must be affirmatively justified by clearly articulated criteria for confidentiality, based on factors such as reasonable claims to privacy, the confidentiality of supervisory information, and the need to ensure the effectiveness of policy. conclusion extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. responding to the very difficult economic and financial challenges we face, the federal reserve has gone beyond traditional monetary policy making to develop new policy tools to address the dysfunctions in the for links and references, see ben s. bernanke ( 2009 ), " federal reserve programs to strengthen credit markets and the economy, " testimony before the committee on financial services, u. s. house of representatives, february 10. nation's credit markets. we have done so in a responsible way : the credit risk associated with our nontraditional policies is exceptionally low, and, by carefully monitoring our balance sheet and developing tools to drain bank reserves as needed, we will ensure that policy accommodation can be reversed at the appropriate time to avoid risks of future inflation. we provide a great deal of information about our lending programs and our balance sheet to the congress and the public. but, as i have discussed today, we will do more on this front, both expanding the information we provide and improving how we communicate that information. increased transparency is the best way to demonstrate that the federal reserve's nontraditional policies are well conceived, well managed, and produce substantial public benefit.

ben s bernanke : federal reserve policies to ease credit and their implications for the fed's balance sheet speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the national press club luncheon, national press club, washington dc, 18 february 2009. the original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the us federal reserve system ’ s website. * * * we live in extraordinarily challenging times for the global economy and for economic policymakers, not least for central banks such as the federal reserve. as you know, the recent economic statistics have been dismal, with many economies, including ours, having fallen into recession. and behind those statistics, we must never forget, are millions of people struggling with lost jobs, lost homes, and lost confidence in their economic future. in examples that resonate with me personally, the unemployment rate in the small town in south carolina where i grew up has risen to 14 percent, and i learned the other day that what had once been my family home was recently put through foreclosure. traditionally the most conservative of institutions, central banks around the world have responded to this unprecedented crisis with force and innovation. in the united states, the federal reserve has done, and will continue to do, everything possible within the limits of its authority to assist in restoring our nation to financial stability and economic prosperity as quickly as possible. policy innovation has been necessary because conventional monetary policies, which focus on influencing short - term interest rates, have proven insufficient to overcome the effects of the financial crisis on credit conditions and the broader economy. to further ease financial conditions, beyond what can be attained by reducing short - term interest rates, the federal reserve has taken additional steps to improve the functioning of credit markets and to increase the supply of credit to households and businesses – a policy strategy that i have called " credit easing. " in the first portion of my remarks, i will briefly outline the three principal approaches to easing credit that we have undertaken, over and above cutting the short - term interest rate, and assess their effectiveness to date. each of these policy approaches involves the provision of credit or the purchase of debt securities by the federal reserve, which collectively have resulted in a substantial expansion in the size of the federal reserve's balance sheet. the second portion of my remarks addresses some issues raised by the changes in the size of the fed's balance sheet. in particular