- Key insight: The Federal Reserve announced the external advisors who will be tasked with leading reviews of key policies at the central bank, including communications, balance sheet management and its view toward the labor market.
- Expert quote: "I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time." — Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh
- Forward look: The task forces are expected to recommend policy changes to the Fed by the end of the year.
The Federal Reserve Thursday announced the names of external advisors assigned to five separate task forces focused on its policies related to communications, its balance sheet, data, and inflation, including a range of business, academic, and former government officials.
Among the more noteworthy names included in the announcement were Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist and political megadonor, who was tapped to lead Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's policy review
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced these task forces during his debut press conference last month, noting that they would aim to deliver recommendations to the Fed by the end of the year. The external task force leaders will be supported by Fed staffers. Warsh said in a statement accompanying the announcement that the task forces will help the central bank be more effective in its mission of full employment and price stability.
"The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor," Warsh said in a statement. "The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon."
In his statement, Warsh praised the 15 external advisors as qualified experts in their respective fields.
"I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution," he said. "The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time."
Andreessen became a
The communications task force — which will decide the future of the Fed's policy statements, the Federal Open Market Committee's quarterly economic forecasts and the central bank's use of forward guidance — will be led by former Bank of England Gov. Mervyn King, former president of the Central Bank of Brazil Arminio Fraga and Peter R. Fisher, a professor at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business.
The balance sheet task force will consist of former Fed Gov. Jeremy Stein, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan and Karen Dynan, an economics professor at Harvard.
The data task force will be led by Harvard economist Raj Chetty; Doug McMillon, former president and CEO of Walmart; and Kevin Murphy, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
The inflation task force will include Greg Mankiw, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush; Thomas Sargent, professor of economics at New York University and a Nobel laureate; and William White, former economic advisor for the Bank for International Settlements.
