The Federal Reserve can take some blame for failing to see risks building up in the years preceding the global financial crisis. But perhaps more than any other major policymaking institution in the world, the Fed has acquitted itself well in the decade since.
The competent and right-minded running of the Fed remains absolutely indispensable to stability in the US and beyond. It is unfortunate therefore that Janet Yellen, who has chaired the central bank since 2013, will be replaced when her term expires in February.
Ms Yellen’s tenure has largely pursued the philosophy and style of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke. The Yellen Fed has been prepared to err on the side of monetary laxity and it has continued to use historically unusual tools to provide stimulus. Although it has tightened policy, probably somewhat prematurely, it has clearly signalled a gradual approach distinct from the traditional Fed style of an inexorable sequence of moves.