We provide an initial assessment of the Federal Reserve's policy response to the COVID‐19 contraction. We briefly review the historical episode and consider the standard textbook treatment of a pandemic on the macroeconomy. We summarize and then evaluate the Fed's monetary and emergency lending policies through the end of 2020. We credit the Fed with promoting monetary stability while maintaining that it could have done more. We argue that the Fed could have achieved stability without employing its emergency lending facilities. Although some facilities likely helped to promote general liquidity, others were primarily intended to allocate credit, which blurs the line between monetary and fiscal policy. These credit allocation facilities were unwarranted and unwise.

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美联储对 COVID-19 收缩的反应：初步评估

我们对美联储针对 COVID-19 经济萎缩的政策反应进行了初步评估。我们简要回顾了这一历史事件，并考虑了大流行病对宏观经济的标准教科书处理方式。我们总结并评估了美联储到 2020 年底的货币和紧急贷款政策。我们赞扬美联储促进了货币稳定，同时坚持认为它本可以做得更多。我们认为，美联储可以在不使用紧急贷款设施的情况下实现稳定。尽管一些设施可能有助于促进总体流动性，但其他设施主要用于分配信贷，这模糊了货币政策和财政政策之间的界限。这些信贷分配机制是没有根据的，也是不明智的。