about the course of future short - term rates and their own views. by guiding market expectations in this way, the policy committee attains increased influence over the most economically relevant long - term yields, reduced financial and economic uncertainty, and, in all probability, better economic outcomes. these potential benefits have not been lost on federal reserve policymakers. certainly, the development of the fomc ’ s post - meeting statement over the past decade suggests an increasing awareness of the practical advantages of increased transparency and communication. as hard as it may be to imagine, given the prominence afforded to fomc statements today, before 1994 the fomc issued no post - meeting statement, not even an announcement of its decision about the federal funds rate. instead, in most instances, the committee signaled its decision to financial markets only indirectly through the open - market operations used to affect the rate. 2 in february 1994, the fomc began to release statements to note changes in its target for the federal funds rate but continued to remain silent after meetings with no policy changes. statements have been released after every meeting only since may 1999. the fomc statements have evolved considerably. in their current form, they provide a brief description of the state of the economy and a somewhat formulaic description of the so - called balance of risks with respect to the outlook for output growth and inflation. the “ balance - of - risks ” part of the statement replaced an earlier formulation, known as the “ policy tilt, ” which loosely characterized the likely future direction of the federal funds rate. the balance - of - risks portion of the statement also provides information about the likely course of policy, but it does so more indirectly by describing the committee ’ s assessment of the potential risks to its dual objectives of maximum sustainable employment and price stability rather than by commenting on the policy rate itself. most recently, the committee has introduced additional commentary on the outlook for policy into its statement. for example, the august 2003 statement of the fomc indicated that “ policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period, ” a formulation replaced a few meetings later with the comment that the committee could be “ patient ” in removing policy accommodation. these statements conveyed information to markets about the committee ’ s economic outlook as well as its policy approach. in my view, this language served an important purpose, illustrating in the process the value of central bank communication. at the time that “ considerable period ” was introduced, the market was pricing in a significant degree of near -

of mortgage lending continues to be located in one or more of a bank ’ s delineated assessment areas - - that is, near a physical branch. this research also found that people in low - income census tracts were more than twice as likely to live in a banking desert - - an area without a branch within 10 miles - - than those in higherincome tracts. 13 when they are cut off from mainstream banking institutions, some consumers rely on more expensive alternatives that include payday loans, auto title loans, pawn shops, and check cashing services. banks vary widely in terms of the types of services they offer and the mechanisms they use for reaching their customers. on one end of the spectrum, many community banks still rely federal reserve board community advisory council, record of meeting, may 4, 2018, https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / aboutthefed / files / cac - 20180504. pdf. see hoai - luu q. nguyen, do bank branches still matter? the effect of closings on local economic outcomes, october 2015. the reason is the information - intensive nature of the underwriting process. even in areas with plenty of bank branches, declines in small businesses lending because of the loss of the relationship between a small business owner and their loan officer were significant. once broken, the study found that those relationships take years to replace. the impact of branch closures were found to be more severe in tracts with lower median income, a higher fraction of minority households, and where firms were, on average, closer to their lending. donald morgan, maxim pinkovskiy, and bryan yang, “ banking deserts, branch closings and soft information, ” liberty street economics blog, march 7, 2015, http : / / libertystreeteconomics. newyorkfed. org / 2016 / 03 / bankingdeserts - branch - closings - and - soft - information. html. see, again, morgan, pinkovskiy, and yang, march 7, 2015 ; between 2009 and 2014, the fraction of low - income tracts that were also banking deserts increased 0. 17 percentage points compared to a 0. 06 percentage point increase in higher - income tracts. primarily on branches and atms to reach their customers, with mobile functionality offered primarily to enhance the customer experience. in the middle of the spectrum, regional and national banking organizations are using online and mobile app capabilities to attract and retain customers well