What was the role of the Federal Reserve System in the 2008 financial crisis-as a cause of the crisis, as the most important government agency to respond, and as the centre of federal efforts to prevent another crisis? J. Kevin Corder provides an incisive account of the Fed choices that contributed to the ""crash of 2008.""

Centring his analysis on the oversight of mortgage lending and the regulation/supervision of financial institutions and instruments, Corder draws out the implications of the crisis for the Fed's mission. Equally, he charts the new political and technical challenges that the system faces as the financial sector recovers.