Why the 12 federal reserve banks, 11 are located in the east, while only 1 is located in the American west?There are 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks (not to be confused with the "member banks") with 25 branches, which serve as the operating arms of the system. Each Federal Reserve Bank is subject to oversight by the Board of Governors.[65] Each Federal Reserve Bank has a board of directors, whose members... | |
Do you really consider Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Dallas to be in the "East"? I wouldn't even consider Chicago, St. Louis, or Cleveland to be eastern cities:
http://federalreserve.gov/OTHERFRB.H...
Politics, pure and simple.
When the Fed branches were first discussed, the idea was that no bank would be more than a day's buggy ride from their nearest Fed Branch.
However, as the senate and Rep votes drew near, the lobbying efforts commenced and the branches began to 'migrate' toward the biggest banking centers (and the senator from Moussori received 2 branches for his connections).
Since then, the population center of the country has shift steadily west and south while the Fed branches remain unchanged.
Is it a big deal? Not terribly. With the exception of the NY branch, Fed branches have limited power in the system, more measured by member bank participation than by branch count.
