Skip to main content
Log in

Federal Reserve transparency: The more things change, the more they stay the same?

  • Editorial Comments
  • Published:
Public Choice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The calculus of electoral politics and the central bank’s bureaucratic objectives can explain the recent trend toward greater Federal Reserve transparency and can shed light on the likelihood that this trend will continue. If incumbent politicians see no electoral advantage in pressuring the Fed to become still more transparent, and if the Fed sees no benefit to greater transparancy, then further changes in current practice are unlikely. Private sector agents will continue to face a significant degree of uncertainty about the Fed’s policy objectives and about the information that policymakers consider in the monetary policy decision process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Alesina, A., & Sachs, J. (1988). Political parties and the business cycle in the United States, 1948–1984. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 20, 63–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, N. (1984). Domestic political sources of American monetary policy: 1955–1982. Journal of Politics, 46, 786–817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernanke, B. S. (2003). A perspective on inflation targeting. Business Economics, 38(3), 7–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhard, W. (2002). Banking on reform: Political parties and central bank independence in the industrial democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blinder, A. S. (2007). Monetary policy by committee: Why and how? European Journal of Political Economy, 23, 106–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chappell, Jr., H. W., & Keech, W. (1988). The unemployment rate consequences of partisan monetary policies. Southern Economic Journal, 55, 107–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chappell, Jr., H. W., McGregor, R. R., & Vermilyea, T. A. (2005). Committee decisions on monetary policy: Evidence from historical records of the Federal Open Market Committee. Cambridge: MIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodfriend, M. (1986). Monetary mystique: Secrecy and central banking. Journal of Monetary Economics, 17, 63–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grier, K. (1991). Congressional influence on U.S. monetary policy: An empirical test. Journal of Monetary Economics, 28, 201–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havrilesky, T. M. (1994). The political economy of monetary policy. European Journal of Political Economy, 10, 111–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havrilesky, T. M. (1995). The pressures on American monetary policy (2nd ed.). Norwell: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hibbs, Jr., D. A. (1987). The American political economy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, D., Cooper, G., Papakos, V., Mai, N., & Barr, M. (2007). Central bank communication hits diminishing marginal returns. London: J.P. Morgan Research, J.P. Morgan Securities, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poole, W., & Rasche, R. H. (2003). The impact of changes in FOMC disclosure practices on the transparency of monetary policy: Are markets and the FOMC better “synched”? Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), 85(January/February), 1–9.

  • Shughart, II, W. F., & Tollison, R. D. (1983). Preliminary evidence on the use of inputs by the Federal Reserve system. American Economic Review, 73, 291–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, D. L. (2007). The lower and upper bounds of the Federal Open Market Committee’s long-run inflation objective. Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), 89(May/June), 183–193.

  • Toma, M. (1982). Inflationary bias of the federal reserve system: A bureaucratic perspective. Journal of Monetary Economics, 10, 163–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tootell, G. M. B. (1999). Whose monetary policy is it anyway? Journal of Monetary Economics, 43, 217–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rob Roy McGregor.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McGregor, R.R. Federal Reserve transparency: The more things change, the more they stay the same?. Public Choice 133, 269–273 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9226-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9226-1

Keywords

JEL

Navigation