Fed hawks

[Brad De Long]

>James Baird wrote:
>
>>The Fed is always portrayed as being completely controlled by the Great
>>and Merciful Greenspan.  How much control does he actually have over
>>policy?  Is the FOMC a rubber stamp, or do they actually have an
>>independent voice?
>
>The Fed is dominated by the chair, so much so that former vice chair Alan
>Blinder said he couldn't even get info out of the staff economists.

The *staff* is dominated by the chair. (There are stories of governors
calling friends at universities to do analyses because the Board of
Governors' staff was "too busy.") My impression has always been that the
Chair, usually the Vice-Chair of the Board, and the President of the New
York Federal Reserve Bank (who is by statute the Vice-Chair of the FOMC)
caucus beforehand and figure out where they want the FOMC to go at its
meeting...

Brad DeLong