The Federal Reserve cannot directly address the problems of inequality, globalization and the challenges facing lower-income Americans, a Fed official said on Friday, though it can help identify solutions for legislators to take up. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester did not comment on interest rates or US economic prospects in her prepared remarks. Instead she told a conference on housing and inequality here that the central bank has a limited role to play in solving problems that beset the world’s largest economy. “While monetary policy cannot address issues such as income inequality, the longer-run issues of workforce development, or the distributional effects of globalization and technological change, other government policies and private-public programs – if they are well-designed – can,” said Mester said at the Fed-sponsored event. Published in Daily Times, June 25th, 2017.