Jeffrey Lacker is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center, but has also previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from 1989 to 2017, serving as its president from 2004 to 2017. Jeff is also a returning guest to podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about Fed governance issues and the lessons learned from the recent inflation surge. Specifically, David and Jeffrey also discuss the issue of maximum employment, how the Fed could reform its governance structure, what the central bank should address during the next framework review, and more.

Transcript for this week’s episode.

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Related Links:

Governance and Diversity at the Federal Reserve by Jeffrey Lacker

What Lessons Should the Federal Reserve Learn from the Recent Inflation Surge? Presentation by Jeffrey Lacker at the 2024 UC San Diego Economics Roundtable Lecture Series

Central Bank Undersight: Assessing the Fed’s Accountability to Congress by Andrew Levin and Christina Parajon Skinner

Reform the Federal Reserve’s Governance to Deliver Better Monetary Outcomes by Dan Katz and Stephen Miran

Don’t Audit the Fed, Restructure It by Michael Belongia and Peter Ireland

Restoring the Promise of Federal Reserve Governance by Peter Conti-Brown

Jim Hamilton on Econometrics, Energy Markets, and Low Interest Rates by Macro Musings

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:04:35) – Jeffrey’s View on “Monetary Federalism”

(00:10:01) – Reducing the Number of Regional Fed Banks

(00:13:11) – Addressing Peter Conti-Brown’s Proposals for Fed Governance Reform

(00:18:23) – Addressing Andy Levin and Christina Skinner’s Proposals for Fed Governance Reform

(00:23:07) – Altering the Fed’s Responsibilities as a Bank Regulator

(00:29:21) – What Lessons Should the Federal Reserve Learn from the Recent Inflation Surge?

(00:36:14) – The Issue of Maximum Employment

(00:46:38) – Evaluating the Fed’s Response to the Recent Inflation Episode

(00:50:45) – What Should the Fed Be Addressing During the Next Framework Review?

(00:55:01) – Outro