The first field trip of the spring 2023 semester was to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Friday, February 24, 2023. St. Louis is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks, which are the operating arms of the Federal Reserve System, and each Reserve Bank operates within its own geographic area or district of the United States.
Our visit started with a tour of the "Economy Museum," which had exhibits on how the economy works. Next, we had a presentation by Nathan Jefferson, an economic associate, and Cassie Marks and John Fuller, both research associates. They began with an innovative and interesting reenactment of a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting just before the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Each student was assigned as one of the committee members and presented their arguments in that meeting. This showed students the actual discussions that take place in these meetings. Then they gave an outlook of the economy.