• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2005). The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions.
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2006). The Federal Reserve in Plain English. from the St. Louis Fed
• Congressional Research ServiceChanging the Federal Reserve's Mandate: An Economic Analysis
• Congressional Research Service Federal Reserve: Unconventional Monetary Policy Options
• Conti-Brown, Peter. The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve (Princeton UP, 2016).
• Epstein, Lita & Martin, Preston (2003). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Federal Reserve. Alpha Books. ISBN 0-02-864323-2.
• Greider, William (1987). Secrets of the Temple. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-67556-7; nontechnical book explaining the structures, functions, and history of the Federal Reserve, focusing specifically on the tenure of Paul Volcker
• Hafer, R. W. The Federal Reserve System: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2005. 451 pp, 280 entries; ISBN 0-313-32839-0.
• Meyer, Laurence H. (2004). A Term at the Fed: An Insider's View. HarperBusiness. ISBN 0-06-054270-5; focuses on the period from 1996 to 2002, emphasizing Alan Greenspan's chairmanship during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the stock market boom and the financial aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• Woodward, Bob. Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom (2000) study of Greenspan in the 1990s.

• Broz, J. Lawrence. The International Origins of the Federal Reserve System. Cornell University Press. 1997.
• Carosso, Vincent P. "The Wall Street Trust from Pujo through Medina", Business History Review (1973) 47:421-37
• Chandler, Lester V. American Monetary Policy, 1928–41. (1971).
• Epstein, Gerald and Thomas Ferguson. "Monetary Policy, Loan Liquidation and Industrial Conflict: Federal Reserve System Open Market Operations in 1932". Journal of Economic History 44 (December 1984): 957–84. in JSTOR
• Friedman, Milton and Anna Jacobson Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (1963)
• Goddard, Thomas H. (1831). History of Banking Institutions of Europe and the United States. Carvill. pp. 48ff.
• Kubik, "Paul J. Federal Reserve Policy during the Great Depression: The Impact of Interwar Attitudes regarding Consumption and Consumer Credit". Journal of Economic Issues. Volume: 30. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 1996. pp. 829+.
• Link, Arthur. Wilson: The New Freedom (1956) pp. 199–240.
• Livingston, James. Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890–1913 (1986), Marxist approach to 1913 policy
• Lowenstein, Roger. America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve (Penguin Press, 2015). 368 pp.
• Marrs, Jim (2000). "Secrets of Money and the Federal Reserve System". Rule by Secrecy (HarperCollins): 64–78.
• Mayhew, Anne. "Ideology and the Great Depression: Monetary History Rewritten". Journal of Economic Issues 17 (June 1983): 353–60.
• Meltzer, Allan H. A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 1: 1913–1951 (2004) ISBN 978-0-226-51999-9 (cloth) and ISBN 978-0-226-52000-1 (paper)
• Meltzer, Allan H. A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 2: Book 1, 1951–1969 (2009) ISBN 978-0-226-52001-8
• Meltzer, Allan H. A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 2: Book 2, 1969–1985 (2009) ISBN 978-0-226-51994-4; In three volumes published so far, Meltzer covers the first 70 years of the Fed in considerable detail
• Mullins, Eustace C. The Secrets of the Federal Reserve, 1952. John McLaughlin. ISBN 0-9656492-1-0
• Roberts, Priscilla. "'Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?' The Federal Reserve System's Founding Fathers and Allied Finances in the First World War", Business History Review (1998) 72: 585–603
• Rothbard, Murray (2007). The Case Against the Fed. Ludwig von Mises Institute. ISBN 978-1467934893.
• Bernard Shull, "The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve's Unlikely Rise to Power and Influence" (2005) ISBN 1-56720-624-7
• Steindl, Frank G. Monetary Interpretations of the Great Depression. (1995).
• Temin, Peter. Did Monetary Forces Cause the Great Depression? (1976).
• Timberlake, Richard H. (2008). "Federal Reserve System". In David R. Henderson (ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Library of Economics and Liberty. ISBN 978-0865976658. OCLC 237794267.
• Wells, Donald R. The Federal Reserve System: A History (2004)
• West, Robert Craig. Banking Reform and the Federal Reserve, 1863–1923 (1977)
• Wicker, Elmus. "A Reconsideration of Federal Reserve Policy during the 1920–1921 Depression", Journal of Economic History (1966) 26: 223–238, in JSTOR
• Wicker, Elmus. Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 1917–33. (1966).
• Wicker, Elmus. The Great Debate on Banking Reform: Nelson Aldrich and the Origins of the Fed Ohio State University Press, 2005.
• Wood, John H. A History of Central Banking in Great Britain and the United States (2005)
• Wueschner; Silvano A. Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917–1927 Greenwood Press. (1999)

Key laws affecting the Federal Reserve have been:[151]

• Federal Reserve Act, 1913
• Glass–Steagall Act
• Banking Act of 1935
• Employment Act of 1946
• Federal Reserve-Treasury Department Accord of 1951
• Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 and the amendments of 1970
• Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977
• International Banking Act of 1978
• Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978)
• Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (1980)
• Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991
• Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (1999)
• Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act (2006)
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008)
• Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010)

Federal Reserve Board: As the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. However, the Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as “independent within the government.”

The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation’s central banking system, are organized much like private corporations–possibly leading to some confusion about “ownership.” For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.