Welcome to the Fed, Kids; Can You Say 'Monetary'?
Ask the next adults you see about inflation and interest rates. Get them to explain the workings of the Federal Open Market Committee and monetary policy. Aside from thinking you are asking strange questions, many may struggle to give you a response.</br></br>Yet, it is not adults but children who are being encouraged to learn such facts by a U.S. institution not used to dealing with 11- year-olds -- the Federal Reserve. The country's central bank launched the Federal Reserve Kids Page (www.federalreserve.gov/ kids) to educate America's middle-schoolers about money and the economy -- and in less than four months it has been visited more than 70,000 times.</br></br>Guided through a colorful site by a cartoon eagle wearing a top hat -- who appears sitting in the Fed's boardroom, outside the Capitol and with a pile of cash -- children can find out how many Federal Reserve districts there are, what the board of governors does and where it all began.</br></br>The Web site was set up to promote economic education and financial literacy. "This new Web page provides younger students with a basic approach to the complexities of the Federal Reserve that is both enjoyable and interesting," Mark W. Olson said at the time the site was launched, when he was on the board of governors.</br></br>The Kids Page's basic explanations could help more than just children get a grip of what is going on in the country's central bank. It even comes with a beginner's guide to inflation -- and how it might affect the amount of fun the teenagers can afford on the weekend.