As featured on the Marketplace podcast where Kai Ryssdal played on air. Step into the shoes of history's most powerful central bankers. Federal Reserve Simulator puts you in command of the world's most influential economic institution. Navigate real historical crises, set the course of monetary policy quarter by quarter, and try to achieve what few Fed Chairs ever have: a perfect soft landing. MASTER THE LEVERS OF MONETARY POLICY Control the Federal Funds Rate, adjust the Discount Window, set reserve requirements, and deploy unconventional tools like quantitative easing and forward guidance. As the decades progress, unlock new powers — from press conferences and dot plots to explicit inflation targeting. Every tool carries tradeoffs, and every decision takes four quarters to fully hit the economy. Plan ahead or pay the price. RELIVE DEFINING MOMENTS IN ECONOMIC HISTORY Play through authentic 30-year scenarios or as legendary Fed Chairs: Paul Volcker — Crush runaway 14% inflation with historic rate hikes, even if it means back-to-back recessions Alan Greenspan — Survive Black Monday, the dot-com crash, and 9/11 across the longest tenure in Fed history Ben Bernanke — Invent quantitative easing on the fly to prevent a second Great Depression Janet Yellen — Engineer the recovery and normalize policy without derailing fragile growth Jerome Powell — Battle a pandemic, confront 40-year-high inflation, and weather political pressure from the White House FEEL THE WEIGHT OF YOUR DECISIONS Watch the economy react to your policies quarter by quarter. Raise rates too fast and trigger a recession. Cut too slowly and watch inflation spiral. Your credibility score tracks how much markets trust your word — build it early, because you'll need it when crisis strikes. At the end of your term, receive a letter grade from A to F based on how you stacked up against history. DESIGN YOUR OWN CRISIS In Custom Mode, choose your nightmare scenario: stagflation, deflation, a market crash — then add a wildcard like a war, energy crisis, or automation boom halfway through. Think you understand monetary policy? Prove it. THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER? Unlock Prestige Mode for tighter scoring and narrower margins of error. Chase 11 achievements. Study the in-game Fedcyclopedia to learn real monetary policy concepts. Compare your results against the leaderboard across every era. Presidential tweets. Market panics. Congressional hearings. Housing bubbles. Can you maintain your independence and steer the economy through the storm? The fate of millions hangs in the balance. What's your next move, Chair? Available in English, German, Spanish, 中文, and Portuguese.
