6  See Ben S. Bernanke (2008), “Monetary Policy and Asset Prices Revisited,” speech delivered at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin, Tex., December 1. 7  The December 2008 FOMC announcement also reported the Committee’s decision to reduce the target for the federal funds rate to a range of 0 to 1/4 percent. 8  See Chung and others (2011).
BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  imposes the assumption that the purchases of $ billion in longer-term Treasury securities are completed within about a year, that the elevated level of securities holdings is then maintained for about two years, and that the asset position is then unwound linearly over the following five years.