Is the Federal Reserve's Monetary Control Policy Misdirected?

On October 6, 1979, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced a new operating procedure by which Federal Reserve open market operations were to be conducted to control unborrowed bank reserves directly rather than to control the Federal funds rate as previously. Subsequently there was increased variability in both interest rates and monetary growth. Why this happened and what if anything can be done to improve monetary control were the subjects of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking Debate held on April 30, 1981, at the Ohio State University in Columbus.