Research Database

Working Papers are early drafts of academic research papers written by economists affiliated with the Minneapolis Fed. Working Papers are often preprints of articles that are published in scholarly journals. Many Working Papers later become Staff Reports. The Research Database is the official location for this series, but you can also find them on the Minneapolis Fed website, IDEAS/RePEc, and in EconLit.

Staff Reports are a series of academic research papers written by economists affiliated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Staff Reports are often preprints of articles that are later published in scholarly journals. The Research Database is the official location for this series, but you can also find them on the Minneapolis Fed website, IDEAS/RePEc, and in EconLit.

The Quarterly Review, or QR, is the Research Division's peer-reviewed scholarly journal. It presents economic research aimed at improving policymaking by the Federal Reserve System and other governmental authorities. As of 2012, the Quarterly Review became an online-only journal.

Quarterly Review articles that are reprints or revisions of papers published elsewhere may not be reprinted without the written permission of the original publisher. All other Quarterly Review articles may be reprinted without charge. If you reprint an article, please fully credit the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as well as the Quarterly Review.

The Institute Working Papers series showcases the ongoing research of scholars at the Institute on issues related to economic opportunity and inclusive growth. These working papers are preliminary versions that are being shared in a timely manner to a broad research community, with the aim of promoting scholarly debate and soliciting constructive feedback. You can also find Institute Working Papers on the Minneapolis Fed website, IDEAS/RePEc, and EconLit.

Discussion Papers are similar to Working Papers and Staff Reports, except that they are related to the Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. They are academic research papers written by economists affiliated with the Minneapolis Fed. Discussion Papers are often preprints of articles that are published in scholarly journals.

Please note: this collection is the new home of the greatdepressionsbook.com website. Scroll down to see the accompanying data for each chapter of the book. The computer programs needed to calibrate the neoclassical growth model and then solve the model numerically, using data from Finland as an example, are included in the list of works but can also be found here.

The worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s was a watershed for both economic thought and economic policymaking. It led to the belief that market economies are inherently unstable and to the revolutionary work of John Maynard Keynes. Its impact on popular economic wisdom is still apparent today.

Great Depressions of the Twentieth Century, which uses a common framework to study sixteen depressions, from the interwar period in Europe and America as well as from more recent times in Japan and Latin America, challenges the Keynesian theory of depressions. It develops and uses a methodology for studying depressions that relies on growth accounting and the general equilibrium growth model.

Each chapter of the book is accompanied by a data file that contains all of the data used in the analysis. This collection also provides links to computer programs for applying the methodology.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is no longer maintaining a MF-VAR model. The June 3, 2016 forecast is the final update. Model documentation, files, and forecasts are available below.

The Minneapolis Mixed Frequency Vector Autoregression (MF-VAR) model of the U.S. economy is the most recent in a line of statistical forecasting models that began with research conducted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota in the 1970s and early 1980s. Rising computer power led to resurgent interest in these models in the 1990s, which in turn brought about improvements along several dimensions. The current model reflects many of these advances. A noteworthy feature of the model is that it combines data measured at both monthly and quarterly frequencies so that forecasts reflect up-to-date monthly information as it becomes available. Please note that the forecasts produced by the MF-VAR model do not represent official forecasts of the Minneapolis Fed, its president, the Federal Reserve System, or the FOMC.

This collection contains physical items and other non-published ephemera produced by the Minneapolis Fed's Research Department.

The Conference Proceedings collection houses papers and ephemera from twenty eight conferences hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Research Department between 1994 and 2003. Additional papers from other Minneapolis Research Department conferences can be found at the Minneapolis Fed conferences and programs website.