The impact varies, with smaller rate changes producing fewer distortions.
Some homeowners can benefit with even smaller rate cuts, although it depends on their circumstances, he said.
A smaller rate reduction posed a risk of moving too slowly if the economy was indeed in danger of stalling.
Several analysts said the dissent and the Fed's warning on inflation indicated that policy makers struggled to agree on even the smaller rate reduction.
But, in some cases, that old rule of thumb doesn't necessarily apply: people with larger mortgages can benefit from smaller rate reductions, brokers said.
Nevertheless, British children grew at a smaller rate than before during the industrial revolution, bringing the average height more into line with the country's European cousins.
The economy has recently shown signs of improvement, like increases in manufacturing activity and retail sales, which appear to have pushed the Fed toward the smaller rate cut.
But two members of the Fed's policy-making committee dissented, saying they favored an even smaller rate cut, and the policy group as a whole expressed new worries about inflation — a possible argument against aggressive rate cuts.
ScottishPower P.L.C., the owner of Pacificorp, will have to return $22 million to customers in Utah after state regulators granted the company a smaller rate increase than first announced seven months ago.
Sherry Cooper, chief economist at Nesbitt Burns, said that "Fed uncertainty over how soon consumer spending might slow might cause the Fed to return to smaller rate hikes at the remaining F.O.M.C. meetings this summer -- June 28 and Aug. 22".
A court in Maine recently upheld a smaller rate increase for that state's largest insurer — 10.9 percent instead of 18.1 percent — that had been ordered by the insurance superintendent.
