Fed's head of research to retire at year-end

WASHINGTON — A Federal Reserve Board veteran and the central bank's head of research is retiring after a 30-year career with the agency.

David Wilcox has served as director of the Fed's Division of Research and Statistics for seven years. In this position, he is responsible for briefing the Federal Open Market Committee on the outlook for the national economy. During his tenure, he also developed new indicators to track the position of the U.S. economy. He will retire at the end of this year.

“David’s depth of expertise and wise counsel have helped guide the Federal Reserve through a time of unprecedented challenges,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a press release. “We will miss his prowess as an economist, his leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion in the field of economics, as well as his incomparable wit and good humor.”

Wilcox served on the Fed board staff from 1986 to 1997 in a variety of positions, and became the deputy director of the Division of Research and Statistics in 2001. He was named director in July 2011.

Throughout his career, he has published articles and papers on fiscal policy, economic forecasting, household spending and saving behavior, and economic measurement. The search for Wilcox’s successor will begin later this year, the Fed said.

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