Bernard I. Fain Lecture

Federal Reserve’s William Poole to speak on monetary policy

William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will deliver a Bernard I. Fain Lecture titled Confidence and Central Banking on October 14, 2000.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. —William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will discuss monetary policy in a Bernard I. Fain Lecture set for Saturday, Oct. 14, 2000.

Poole, a one-time member of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers and a former professor of economics at Brown, will speak on Confidence and Central Banking at 5 p.m. in Room 120 of the List Art Center, 68 College St. His lecture is being sponsored by Brown University’s Department of Economics.

Poole is the CEO for one of 12 regional Reserve Banks which, as part of the Federal Reserve System, are responsible for conducting monetary policy, supervising banks and operating the nation’s payments mechanism. He took over the St. Louis post in March 1998; he also represents the Bank on the Federal Open Market Committee (the Federal Reserve’s chief monetary policymaking body) and chairs the Conference of Presidents’ Committee on Research, Public Information and Community Affairs. He co-authored Principles of Economics, published in 1991, and authored Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View in 1978.

In his lecture, Poole will discuss the importance of public confidence in the Federal Reserve and how its ability to keep inflation low and stable is crucial to the success of the economy. He will also talk about the market’s increased skill in predicting the Federal Reserve’s policy actions.

The Fain Lectureship is named for Bernard I. Fain ’52, who died in 1980. It was established by Brown in 1978 to honor Fain for his efforts in behalf of the University; his family and many members of the carpet industry have since provided support to ensure its future sponsorship of public lectures on problems of business management in the American economy. The lectures are intended to be of interest to scholars, students, members of the business community and the public.

The lecture is open to the public without charge.