Thank you. It is a great pleasure to be here to discuss some of the important issues facing the Federal Reserve and other central banks in conducting monetary policy with a large balance sheet. I will focus on two main sets of issues that the Fed has faced and will continue to face for some time. The first involves our ongoing assessment of the effects of the asset purchases. The second concerns policy normalization in the presence of a very large balance sheet. To set the stage, consider the size of the Fed's balance sheet over the past several years. Assets have risen from about $900 billion in 2006 to about $4.5 ... (full story)