Donald L Kohn: Monetary policy and imbalances Speech by Mr Donald L Kohn, Member of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, at the Banking and Finance Lecture Series, Widener University, Chester, 1 April 2004. *  *  *  Interest rates in the United States have been very low for some time.
The Federal Reserve targets the overnight federal funds rate, and for almost a year this rate has stood at 1 percent. By comparison, the funds rate averaged more than 5 percent during the 1990s, and was last at 1 percent in the 1950s.