By early last March, as the world was realizing we were in a global pandemic, uncertainty and fear gripped markets. A dash-for-cash mentality took hold across financial market participants, and liquidity dried up throughout the financial system. The Bank responded swiftly and supplied extraordinary liquidity, in line with our role as lender of last resort, which I’ll discuss later.
And these stories from around the country can help provide the same type of context for researchers and policymakers. Here at the Federal Reserve we are learning more each day about the complex task of stabilizing communities in the wake of the crisis, and research and analysis of what is working is critical.