The Fed Turns Aggressively Dovish With 'Evans Rule'

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the Economic Club of New York in NovemberPhotograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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Correction: A previous version of this story said that Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser would vote on monetary policy in 2013. He will not.

Wednesday’s announcement from the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee marks a significant escalation (perhaps the biggest to date) in the Fed’s efforts to boost the economy. Rather than tying monetary policy decisions to far-off points in time, or signaling its intentions through vague pronouncements about whether the economy is showing moderate or modest growth, policy will now be tied directly to hard, numerical targets.