Terms & Conditions

Terms of Use

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond provides this Website, RichmondFed.org, as a convenience to its customers, depository institutions and the public. By using this Website or the information, data, materials or software provided on this Website you acknowledge and agree to the following terms and conditions. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE.

Consent to Monitoring

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond monitors this Website. By using this Website you expressly agree to such monitoring and you are advised that any evidence of criminal activity may be provided to law enforcement officials.

Website Use

Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, to defeat or circumvent security measures or to utilize this site for other than its intended purpose are prohibited.

Equipment Use

Website users are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telephone, computer hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of RichmondFed.org content and all charges related thereto.

Website Notification Service

By subscribing to one of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's e-mail notification or subscription services via this Website you agree to waive any claim against the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for any messages that you may receive by reason of your subscription to this service and/or any resultant harm you and/or your computer may receive from such messages. You also authorize the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to maintain your name and contact information in its files and continue to send you e-mail notifications until you provide the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond with an e-mail, in accordance with the procedures detailed in the e-mail notification that you wish to "unsubscribe" to the service.

Information on this Website

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information made available on this Website. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond may periodically update the information but makes no commitment to do so. By entering this site, you acknowledge and agree that your use of the information on this site is at your own risk and that none of the parties involved in creating, producing, or delivering this site is liable for any loss, injury, claim, liability, or damage of any kind resulting in any way from: (a) any errors in or omissions from the information; (b) the unavailability or delay of the information; (c) your use of the information or any conclusions you draw from it, regardless of whether you received any assistance from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or its employees with regard to the information; (d) your use of any equipment in connection with the site or anything obtained from the site; or (e) the content of the site, including anything caused by any viruses, bugs, or malfunctions. Any conclusions that users draw from the information presented here are his or hers and are not to be attributed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The views expressed in various publications, working papers or elsewhere on this Website do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or of the Federal Reserve System.

Links to External Websites

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond may provide various links to Websites outside of this Website (hereafter "External Websites") as an additional resource for our users. External Websites may also link to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Website (External Websites that are linked to this Website or that are linked to by this Website shall be referred to as "Linked Websites "). Linked Websites are not under the control of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Linked Websites may contain material that is protected under copyright or other laws with restrictions on use. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond makes no warranty, express or implied, nor assumes any liability or responsibility for any information that is available on any Linked Websites. Neither inclusion of links to External Websites nor External Websites inclusion of links to this Website imply the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's sponsorship, endorsement, recommendation or approval of the sites, the entities or organizations managing the sites, any views expressed on the sites or any products or services offered.

Privacy Policy

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond respects your privacy. The personal information you choose to provide us is voluntary.* This site may use cookies for session management purposes and saving information across browser sessions. The use of cookies at other Websites linked to/from RichmondFed.org are governed by the individual policies of the relevant providers. You may choose to provide us with personal information if, for example, you subscribe to our publications, send us questions through e-mail, answer user surveys, register for an event, or participate in online activities. If you participate in a user survey, your answers and personal information will only be analyzed in aggregate. The information will be used to help us improve our site, publications, and services to our users' needs and to help us understand our audience. We cannot guarantee the security of information sent electronically to our site. Minor children should always obtain parental consent before releasing personal information to any Website. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time without notice. Please check this page for the latest version. Questions or comments about the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's privacy policy may be directed to the web administrators through the on-line comments form.

*The Directory of Women in Economics utilizes public information to identify women research economists who hold a Ph.D. Individuals who do not wish to be listed may opt-out via email.

General Reserve Bank Data Privacy Notice

This privacy notice provides a high-level overview of Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) activities that rely at least in part on use of personal information. We seek to provide transparency into relevant Reserve Bank functions, the personal information involved, and general uses of such information. Read the full notice.

Google Analytics

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond uses Google Analytics to improve user experience by collecting statistical information about visitors to this Website, in the aggregate, for the purposes of determining what pages and information is of interest to visitors, which browsers and operating systems our visitors use, what search engines or websites are referring visitors, and whether there are performance or other problems on areas of this Website. Google Analytics depends on the use of cookies set by Google. For more information about how Google uses data collected through Google Analytics when you use this Website, please see How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.

No Warranties

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond does not warrant that any information contained on this Website does not defame any individual or entity or infringe upon any individual's or entity's rights of privacy or publicity.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND PROVIDES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, QUALITY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF ANY INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE. ALL INFORMATION, DATA AND MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY OTHER KIND OF DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF INFORMATION, OR ATTORNEY'S FEES) THAT ARE IN ANY WAY DUE TO, RESULTING FROM, OR ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THIS WEB SITE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR ANY VIRUS THAT MIGHT INFECT A USER'S COMPUTER SYSTEM.

Applicable Law

This Website is controlled and operated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from its offices within the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States of America. By entering this site you acknowledge and agree that all matters relating to this Website will be construed and evaluated according to the laws of the United States, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia shall have original jurisdiction over any disputes related to this web site. In the event of no applicable Federal law, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia shall govern without regard to its conflict of law rules. If you use this site from other locations you are responsible for compliance with any and all applicable laws of those or any other applicable locations.

Copyright, Trademark and Other Proprietary Materials on the Web Site

This Website contains copyrighted materials, trademarked materials and other proprietary information, including but not limited to text, software, graphics, photos, video, logos and buttons, music and sound, that are the property of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or third parties. In most cases, to utilize these materials permission must be obtained from the owner of rights in the materials.

Use of Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Copyrighted Materials

Most materials created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, whether they contain a copyright notice or not, are protected from unauthorized use by copyright law. To utilize those materials in which the copyright is owned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, permission must be granted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond hereby grants permission to reproduce written materials in which the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond owns the copyright, provided however, that reproduction is not for the purpose of private and/or commercial gain and these materials are appropriately credited to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. If you wish to utilize Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond copyrighted materials in any other way, such as republication or distribution, you must contact the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and obtain written permission to do so. To utilize materials in which the copyright is owned by a third party, you must contact that third party.

Use of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Name

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond does not permit the use of its name in advertising, as an endorsement for any product or service, or for any other purpose, commercial or otherwise.

Federal Reserve Bank Trademarks & Service Marks

Trademarks and service marks owned by the Federal Reserve Banks may NOT be used without express written permission from the owner of the mark.

• "At work for America’s economy" is a registered service mark of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
• Other marks which may appear on this Website are owned by one or more Federal Reserve Banks. More information about them is located on the Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) website.

The following are registered marks, which may appear on this Web site, of companies not affiliated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond:

• "Adobe Acrobat" is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
• "Dell" is a registered trademark of Dell Computer Corporation.
• "Netscape" and "Netscape Navigator" are registered trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation.
• "Microsoft," "Windows 2000," "Windows ME," "Windows NT" and "Internet Explorer" are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Other product names and company names referenced may be either trademarks and/or service marks of their respective companies. Permission to use any marks of unaffiliated third parties must be obtained from those third parties.

Linking Policy

External entities may link to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond without obtaining written permission provided the following requirements are complied with:

• The entity linking to the site must not create a frame or a border environment around the site;
• The entity linking to the Federal Reserve Bank Website must clearly indicate that the link is an external or offsite link and is not part of the linking entity's web site;
• The entity linking does not misrepresent any association or affiliation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond nor does the entity state or imply any sponsorship or endorsement of the entity, its Website or its products or services by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond;
• For searching purpose, the entity linking to the site must specifically refer to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond by its full name, "Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond"; and
• The entity linking to the site must not use any Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond logos, graphics, images, video or sound without written permission.

By including a link on its site, an external entity agrees that upon request by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond at any time for any reason, the entity shall immediately remove the link from its Web site.

Accessibility Statement

We’re committed to making RichmondFed.org accessible and informative to people of all abilities. Our web team periodically tests and assesses the website for improvements, in alignment with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 published by the World Wide Web Consortium.

The Richmond Fed is making continued efforts to provide a good experience to all site visitors and strives to meet evolving accessibility standards. A few of our ongoing and planned improvements include:

• Increasing the use of descriptive labels (alt tags) on images and figures to help visitors identify and better understand context of images (currently 70% of our site is tagged).
• Making link text descriptive and meaningful so that users better understand what content they will be navigating to.
• Adding transcripts to selected audio to aid the deaf and hard of hearing, or to assist site visitors without speakers or headphones in accessing content.
• Improving visitors’ ability to navigate the site and/or perform common functions using keyboard shortcuts and commands, such as printing, skip navigation, return to home or refreshing a webpage.
• Ensuring good color contrast throughout the site, and;
• Allowing visitors to resize text up to 200% for improved readability without loss of content or functionality on modern browsers.

Web Page and Adobe PDF Accessibility

Most of the content on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s website is in HTML, and is typically compatible with screen-reading software that makes content accessible using text-to-speech and Braille capabilities. However, some content is formatted using Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) and in some cases, complex graphics and tables may present issues for screen readers. PDF documents are displayed through Adobe's free Acrobat Reader. Adobe offers a helpful PDF Access User Guide to provide guidance on accessing PDFs for users of screen reading software.

Feedback and Contact Information

If there is content that is not accessible to you from this website or you have an inquiry, e-mail our web team. We also welcome comments and suggestions about improving the accessibility of our site — your feedback is extremely valuable.