The Federal Reserve Board Web site contains valuable information and useful links to other Web sites. All of the following questions can be answered by going to the Federal Reserve Board’s Web site (http://www.federalreserve.gov) or to one of the sites linked to it. This is a long but interesting exercise. Get to work and you will learn a lot about the Fed!

1.As you know from this chapter, the Fed controls bank reserves, which are part of the monetary base. At the Federal Reserve Board Web site, go to its Statistical Releases and find release H.3. From that release, obtain the data needed to calculate the ratio of bank reserves to the monetary base for the most recent reporting period. Compute the ratio as a percentage and subtract it from 100 percent to find the portion of the monetary base that is held outside financial institutions. That is the end of your assignment, but here are some additional thought questions: 
1.(a) Can you see now why it is hard for the Fed to control the money supply precisely?
2.(b) Where do you think the rest of the monetary base is, and under what conditions might it return to the banking system?
3.Find the Fed’s Monetary Policy Report to Congress. Read Section 1, “Monetary Policy and the Economic Outlook.” What was the Fed trying to do with monetary policy from 2009 to 2010? What was the economic basis for the Fed policy actions? What impact did the policy actions have on the fed funds rate, the 2-year Treasury rate, and the 10-year Treasury rate? Did the Fed change the discount rate during this period? What was the justification?