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Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.ISSN 1936-2854 (Print)ISSN 2767-3898 (Online) A User’s Guide to Reducing the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet Alyssa G. Anderson, Alessandro Barbarino, Anthony M. Diercks, StephenMiran 2026-019 Please cite this paper as:Anderson, Alyssa G., Alessandro Barbarino, Anthony M. Diercks, and Stephen Miran(2026).“A User’s Guide to Reducing the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet,” Finance andEconomics Discussion Series 2026-019.Washington:Board of Governors of the FederalReserve System, https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2026.019. NOTE: Staff working papers in the Finance and Economics Discussion Series (FEDS) are preliminarymaterials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment.The analysis and conclusions set forthare those of the authors and do not indicate concurrence by other members of the research staff or the A User’s Guide to Reducing Alyssa Anderson† March 2026 Abstract For the avoidance of doubt:1) This catalog presents and analyzes a variety of options forreducing the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet.Nothing here is an endorsement of anyspecific policy option; this is a menu of options. Combined, we estimate these options openthe door to balance sheet reduction of$1.2 to$2.1 trillion within the Fed’s current ample reservesframework. While we do not advocate for or against a return to a scarce reserves regime, furtherreductions would be possible with a return to scarce reserves.2) The process of materially JEL Codes:E52, E58, G21, G28.Keywords:Federal Reserve Balance Sheet, Quantitative Tightening, Reserve Management, Mon- Contents 1Introduction 2How We Got Here2.1Federal Reserve Balance Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.2Evolution to the Current Implementation Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.3Fluctuations in Reserve Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.3.1Pre-Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Motivating a Smaller Balance Sheet 3.1Why Shrink the Balance Sheet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143.2What Does It Mean to Shrink the Balance Sheet?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163.3How Far to Shrink the Balance Sheet?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 4Options for Reducing the Balance Sheet 4.1Options for Reducing Equilibrium Reserve Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184.1.1Regulatory Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184.1.2Supervisory Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244.1.3Decrease Profitability of Holding Reserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254.1.4Increase Attractiveness of Substitutes for Reserves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 5Adding It All Up 34 6Making Sure the Financial System Can Absorb Securities the Fed Sheds 8Conclusion References AData Sources 1Introduction Standard economics considers the supply of bank reserves to be set by the central bank, for purposesrelated to monetary policy implementation or targeting certain levels of overnight borrowing rates.In classic models like Poole (1968), reserve demand reflects the regulatory environment, economic This traditional interpretation has given rise to a common view that the Federal Reserve isunable to reduce its balance sheet materially from current levels, given a demand curve that becomes steeper at lower levels of reserves.1After all, the Fed has tried to shrink its balance sheet beforeand each time ends up ceasing balance sheet reduction and abruptly reversing itself, expanding the Challenges to this view have emerged in recent years, for instance in Logan and Schulhofer-Wohl (2018), Beckworth (2025), Miran (2025), Nelson (2026a) and Duffie (2026).2These papers argue that the demand for reserves is in large part, but not entirely, a function of the regulatoryenvironment: banks are required by various regulations to hold certain levels of high-quality liq-uid assets, which can include reserves or Treasury securities.Of course, banks would naturallydemand some level of reserves given their role in providing liquidity and processing payments, butthe regulatory framework—both formal requirements and supervisory expectations—substantially Modern monetary policy implementation is defined by the boundaries between scarce, ampleand abundant reserves, and those boundaries are in turn a function of the regulatory environment, precautionary demand for reserves, and other sources of reserve demand. Policy choices can shift The purpose of this paper is to present a suite of policy options for reducing the size of the Fed’sbalance sheet, many of which aim to reduce the demand for reserves and shift those boundariesdown. Nothing here should be considered advocacy or endorsement of any particular option. This To be clear, we are not advocating for or against a return to scarce reserves. We are insteadchallenging the wide