The U.S. federal funds effective rate underwent a dramatic reduction in early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate plummeted from 1.58 percent in February 2020 to 0.65 percent in March, and further decreased to 0.05 percent in April. This sharp reduction, accompanied by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, was implemented to stabilize the economy during the global health crisis. After maintaining historically low rates for nearly two years, the Federal Reserve began a series of rate hikes in early 2022, with the rate moving from 0.33 percent in April 2022 to 5.33 percent in August 2023. The rate remained unchanged for over a year, before the Federal Reserve initiated its first rate cut in nearly three years in September 2024, bringing the rate to 5.13 percent. By December 2024, the rate was cut to 4.48 percent, signaling a shift in monetary policy in the second half of 2024. In January 2025, the Federal Reserve implemented another cut, setting the rate at 4.33 percent, which remained unchanged throughout the following months. What is the federal funds effective rate? The U.S. federal funds effective rate determines the interest rate paid by depository institutions, such as banks and credit unions, that lend reserve balances to other depository institutions overnight. Changing the effective rate in times of crisis is a common way to stimulate the economy, as it has a significant impact on the whole economy, such as economic growth, employment, and inflation. Central bank policy rates The adjustment of interest rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a coordinated global effort. In early 2020, central banks worldwide implemented aggressive monetary easing policies to combat the economic crisis. The U.S. Federal Reserve's dramatic reduction of its federal funds rate - from 1.58 percent in February 2020 to 0.05 percent by April - mirrored similar actions taken by central banks globally. While these low rates remained in place throughout 2021, mounting inflationary pressures led to a synchronized tightening cycle beginning in 2022, with central banks pushing rates to multi-year highs. By mid-2024, as inflation moderated across major economies, central banks began implementing their first rate cuts in several years, with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and European Central Bank all easing monetary policy.

The benchmark interest rate in the United States was last recorded at 4.50 percent. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Fed Funds Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

The U.S. federal funds rate peaked in 2023 at its highest level since the 2007-08 financial crisis, reaching 5.33 percent by December 2023. A significant shift in monetary policy occurred in the second half of 2024, with the Federal Reserve implementing regular rate cuts. By December 2024, the rate had declined to 4.48 percent. What is a central bank rate? The federal funds rate determines the cost of overnight borrowing between banks, allowing them to maintain necessary cash reserves and ensure financial system liquidity. When this rate rises, banks become more inclined to hold rather than lend money, reducing the money supply. While this decreased lending slows economic activity, it helps control inflation by limiting the circulation of money in the economy. Historic perspective The federal funds rate historically follows cyclical patterns, falling during recessions and gradually rising during economic recoveries. Some central banks, notably the European Central Bank, went beyond traditional monetary policy by implementing both aggressive asset purchases and negative interest rates.

This academic article explores the far-reaching impact of budget cuts on public services, with a detailed focus on healthcare, education, and public safety. Using robust quantitative analyses and comparative case studies drawn from international data sources such as OECD and the World Bank, the study examines how fiscal austerity measures—often implemented to reduce public debt—can lead to significant declines in service quality, increased mortality rates, lower educational outcomes, and rising crime rates. The article synthesizes empirical findings, theoretical frameworks (including fiscal federalism and public choice theory), and policy evaluations to reveal that while budget cuts may offer short-term fiscal relief, they ultimately exacerbate social inequalities and erode human capital. Policy recommendations advocate for targeted fiscal adjustments, efficiency enhancements, stronger social safety nets, and progressive revenue reforms to mitigate these adverse effects. Overall, the article provides a comprehensive, data-driven analysis that informs policymakers on the long-term socioeconomic consequences of austerity measures and outlines sustainable strategies to maintain essential public services.

Policy interest rates in the U.S. and Europe are forecasted to decrease gradually between 2024 and 2027, following exceptional increases triggered by soaring inflation between 2021 and 2023. The U.S. federal funds rate stood at **** percent at the end of 2023, the European Central Bank deposit rate at **** percent, and the Swiss National Bank policy rate at **** percent. With inflationary pressures stabilizing, policy interest rates are forecast to decrease in each observed region. The U.S. federal funds rate is expected to decrease to *** percent, the ECB refi rate to **** percent, the Bank of England bank rate to **** percent, and the Swiss National Bank policy rate to **** percent by 2025. An interesting aspect to note is the impact of these interest rate changes on various economic factors such as growth, employment, and inflation. The impact of central bank policy rates The U.S. federal funds effective rate, crucial in determining the interest rate paid by depository institutions, experienced drastic changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The subsequent slight changes in the effective rate reflected the efforts to stimulate the economy and manage economic factors such as inflation. Such fluctuations in the federal funds rate have had a significant impact on the overall economy. The European Central Bank's decision to cut its fixed interest rate in June 2024 for the first time since 2016 marked a significant shift in attitude towards economic conditions. The reasons behind the fluctuations in the ECB's interest rate reflect its mandate to ensure price stability and manage inflation, shedding light on the complex interplay between interest rates and economic factors. Inflation and real interest rates The relationship between inflation and interest rates is critical in understanding the actions of central banks. Central banks' efforts to manage inflation through interest rate adjustments reveal the intricate balance between economic growth and inflation. Additionally, the concept of real interest rates, adjusted for inflation, provides valuable insights into the impact of inflation on the economy.

President-elect Trump’s proposed economic agenda would reshape the tax landscape and raises questions about its impact on short- and long-term fiscal stability.

Does the intervention of an international organization in domestic politics render policy change more popular? While voters may ultimately care only about policy outcomes, the involvement of international actors often seems to lead to resentment. Still, citizens may have greater faith in the wisdom of international actors than in their own government. As others have argued, a well-respected international actor might provide a cue, especially for voters considering controversial policies like spending cuts. We test this argument in a novel pre–post experimental panel study conducted in Spain. We find that citizens become less opposed to unpopular spending cuts when informed that they are required by an international institution. The effects differ, however, across the two organizations that we test: They are stronger for the European Union than for the International Monetary Fund. Our findings lend support to studies arguing that the endorsement of specific international organizations can help push through otherwise unpopular policies.

Graph and download economic data for FOMC Summary of Economic Projections for the Fed Funds Rate, Median (FEDTARMD) from 2025 to 2027 about projection, federal, median, rate, and USA.

The US federal government has begun a very public and aggressive effort to cut federal spending. Several cutback strategies have been proposed in guidance from OMB and OPM (See Memo “Guidance on Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans” February 26, 2025). Layered on top of these efforts to reduce spending are tensions between federal agencies and federally elected officials on who has the power to determine the reductions. In this study, we aim to understand how the public evaluates the federal government as it engages in cutback efforts. There is a growing literature on how the public evaluates government based on financial management strategies. These studies have examined general purpose local governments and school districts. We extend this work to see how the public evaluates the federal government’s efforts at spending reductions by a 43 vignette experiment design. Most academic work at the federal government examine spending by policy area, not necessarily financial strategies. We examine four cutback strategies: reductions to personnel, reductions to real property footprint, reductions to external consultants and contractors, and reductions of government services to only functions explicitly required by statute. To assess how responsibility for the cut impacts public evaluations, we also examine if the proposed cut comes from agency heads, elected officials, or both agency heads and elected officials. We will conduct this survey experiment via Prolific in Summer 2025.

Because the American states operate under balanced budget requirements, increases in spending in one area typically entail equal and opposite budget cuts in other programs. The literature analyzing the correlates of government spending by policy area has mostly ignored these tradeoffs inherent to policy-making, failing to address one of the most politically interesting and important dimensions of fiscal policy. Borrowing from the statistical literature on compositional data, we present more appropriate and efficient methods that explicitly incorporate the budget constraint into models of spending by budget category. We apply these methods to eight categories of spending from the American states over the years 1984--2009 to reveal winners and losers in the scramble for government spending. Our findings show that partisan governments finance their distinct priorities by raiding spending items that the opposition prefers, while different political institutions, economic conditions, and state demographics impose different tradeoffs across the budget.

We measure how cuts to public procurement propagate through the banking system in a financial crisis. During the European sovereign debt crisis, the Portuguese government cut procurement spending by 4.3% of GDP. We find that this cut saddled banks with non-performing loans from government contractors, which led to a persistent reduction in credit supply to other firms. We estimate a bank-level elasticity of credit supply with respect to procurement demand of 2.5. In a general equilibrium model, our findings point to large effects of fiscal policy on credit supply and output in a crisis.

This data package includes the underlying data and files to replicate the calculations, charts, and tables presented in Will Corporate Tax Cuts Cause a Large Increase in Wages?, PIIE Policy Brief 17-30. If you use the data, please cite as: Cline, William R. (2017). Will Corporate Tax Cuts Cause a Large Increase in Wages?. PIIE Policy Brief 17-30. Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The fifth round of the Global Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Policy Survey was conducted in 2018-2019. For this survey, the questionnaire was administered online to each member state via World Health Organization (WHO) regional offices. Each WHO country office was asked to coordinate completion of the survey with the Ministry of Health and other UN partners. Respondents from each country shared original source documents including national policies, strategies, laws, guidelines, reports that are relevant to the areas of sexual and reproductive health, maternal and newborn health, child health, adolescent health, gender-based violence and cross-cutting issues. Cross cutting issues include policies, guidelines and legislation for human right to healthcare, financial protection, and quality of care.The WHO cross-cutting issues page can be found here, and the WHO data can also be accessed on their data portal page, here. Adolescent Health Policy data, provided by the WHO, show the below data attributes for countries that have an International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) membership and have completed the required surveys. Academia typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Adolescents/young people typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Civil society typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Donors typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Engagement of civil society in review of national RMNCAH programmes H6 partnership organizations typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Law requiring birth registration Law requiring death registration Ministry of Health typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body National human rights institution considers RMNCAH issues National law guarantees universal access to primary health care National policy on Quality of Care for health services exists National policy on Quality of Care includes Adolescent health National policy on Quality of Care includes Maternal health National policy on Quality of Care includes Newborn health National policy on Quality of Care includes Sexual and reproductive health National policy to ensure engagement of civil society organisation representatives in national level planning of RMNCAH programmes National RMNCAH coordinating body Non-health government sectors typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Private sector typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body Professional associations typically included in the RMNCAH coordinating body This data set is just one of the many datasets on the Global Midwives Hub, a digital resource with open data, maps, and mapping applications (among other things), to support advocacy for improved maternal and newborn services, supported by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), UNFPA, WHO, and Direct Relief.

Real-time tracking of human and economic costs from Trump administration policy changes including tariffs, healthcare cuts, and Project 2025 implementation.

The benchmark interest rate in Poland was last recorded at 5 percent. This dataset provides - Poland Interest Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

This data package includes the underlying data and files to replicate the calculations, charts, and tables presented in Corporate Tax Cuts: Examining the Record in Other Countries, PIIE Policy Brief 17-14. If you use the data, please cite as: Djankov, Simeon. (2017). Corporate Tax Cuts: Examining the Record in Other Countries. PIIE Policy Brief 17-14. Peterson Institute for International Economics.

From January 2022 to July 2024, a global trend emerged as almost all advanced and emerging economies increased their central bank policy rates. This widespread tightening of monetary policy was in response to inflationary pressures and economic challenges. However, a shift occurred in the latter half of 2024, with most countries beginning to lower their rates, signaling a new phase in the global economic cycle and monetary policy approach. Since September 2023, ****** has consistently held the highest interest rate among the observed countries.

Graph and download economic data for Equity Market Volatility Tracker: Macroeconomic News and Outlook: Interest Rates (EMVMACROINTEREST) from Jan 1985 to Jun 2025 about volatility, uncertainty, equity, interest rate, interest, rate, and USA.

These data were used in the preparation of the book "Starving the Beast" by author, and Principal Investigator, Monica Prasad. The book is a history of the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act. The files include historical data on economics and politics in the Unites States and other advanced industrial countries, as well as full Stata files for all statistical calculations in the book.

Dissident violence inflicts many costs on society, but some of the longest-lasting consequences for civilians may be indirect, due to the government's response. We explore how government policy responses affect social welfare, specifically through budgetary shifts. Using subnational violence and budgeting data for Peru, we demonstrate that attacks on soldiers during the budget negotiation period drive a shift from local social services, especially health, to defense. One soldier fatality implies a shift of 1.1% out of local health budgets (2008 - 2012). Health budget cuts due to a single soldier fatality result in 108 predicted additional infant deaths two years later. We show that the effect on health budgeting operates through decreases in women's use of health facilities and postnatal services. We offer evidence that Peru's coercive response indirectly harms civilians due to butter-to-guns budgetary shifts. Our results identify a budgetary mechanism that translates dissident violence into a deterioration in social welfare.