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TODAY, the Fed has its most diverse leadership in history. A paper by the Associated Press shows how over the years “There are more female, Black and openly gay officials contributing to the central bank’s interest-rate decisions than at any time in its 109-year history.”
“Over time, economists say, a wider range of voices will deepen the Fed’s perspective as it weighs the consequences of raising or lowering rates. It may also help diversify a profession that historically hasn’t been seen as particularly welcoming to women and minorities”, the news agency reports.
It added: “The change at the Fed has been a rapid one, with three African Americans and three women having joined the central bank’s 19-member interest-rate committee just this year. (Under the Fed’s rotating system, only 12 of the 19 committee members vote each year on its rate decisions)”.
“The Fed’s influential seven-member Board of Governors, based in Washington, now includes two Black economists, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, who were both nominated by President Joe Biden and were sworn in this May. They are the third and fourth Black people on the board. Governors get to vote on every Fed rate decision. In addition, two of the presidents of the Fed’s 12 regional banks are now Black — Raphael Bostic of the Atlanta Fed and Susan Collins of the Boston Fed. Collins, formerly provost of the University of Michigan, became Boston Fed president this year. Bostic took office in 2017” —AP added.
The situation comes at a time when the country is facing the highest inflation in more than 40 years. As Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell explained, the Fed has further rate hikes as a strategy and expects to keep its benchmark rate high until the worst inflation streak in four decades subsides considerably.
Some people have criticised the new revelations about the Fed, arguing that they are placing rates above merit, and as a result, the country has the highest inflation in decades.
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.