WASHINGTON — In the wake of a deep economic crisis and a disappointingly slow recovery, a growing number of experts, including some Federal Reserve officials, say it is time for the Fed to consider a new approach to managing the economy.

Since the mid-1990s, the Fed has focused on keeping inflation slow and steady, at about 2 percent a year, in the belief that it was the best way to nurture economic growth and avoid painful downturns. Those pushing for a new approach do not agree on the best alternative — the ideas range from minor tweaks to tossing the current rule book — but there is broad agreement that the Fed should seize the moment now, before the next crisis hits.

“Monetary policy has not been as successful as we might like over the last decade,” Christina Romer, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, said this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Philadelphia. “Now really is the time for every monetary economist to say, ‘Is there something better?’”

The stakes are high: The Fed pursues its goals by raising and lowering borrowing costs to influence economic growth and stability. Effective management allows the economy to prosper: Employment grows, wages rise and people enjoy better standards of living. Mistakes cause recessions.