In the A case, F-1890, the leaders of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the US Treasury confronted questions that seemed likely to shape the Federal Reserve (Fed) for years to come. What should be the Fed’s role in the American economy? How should the Fed help resolve World War I’s debt burden and the resulting inflation? What reforms, if any, should the monetary authorities seek? Perhaps most importantly, was the “orthodoxy” of established practices still appropriate in the world that had emerged from the war?

This B case, set in April 1921, follows the continued efforts of the FRB and the newly installed Harding administration, as they fight the worsening depression.