Zaid

So after Paul Volcker tamed inflation in the 1980s, the US entered what economists called the Great Moderation, which was 20 years of low and stable inflation.

And during this period, the Fed also became way more transparent.

For most of its history, the Federal Reserve was notoriously secretive, but that started to change in the 1990s.

In 1994, the Fed started issuing public statements after every meeting, explaining their decisions.

Then in 2007, the Fed began releasing quarterly economic projections so everyone can see where Fed officials thought the economy was headed.

And then in 2011 was the big one.

The Fed chair started holding regular press conferences after meetings to explain the Fed's thinking.

Now, these press conferences are now followed very closely.

The markets are following every word the Fed chair says.

Now, this transparency from the Fed was actually strategic because the more clearly the Fed communicates, the more affected their policy becomes.

If businesses and investors understand where rates are headed, they can plan accordingly.

And that stability actually helps the economy.

So by the 2000s, the Fed had evolved into a much more professional, transparent and accountable institution than it was in the 1970s.

The next big test for the Fed came in 2008 during the great financial crisis.

That financial crisis is still fresh in my mind.

The housing market had collapsed.

Major financial institutions were on the verge of failure and the entire global financial system was teetering on the edge.

And the Fed responded aggressively.

They slashed interest rates to basically zero.

They launched massive bond buying programs known as qualitative easing or QE to inject liquidity into the system.