Warsh Recruits Andreessen, McMillon to Rethink Fed Methods

The Federal Reserve has announced the leaders of five task forces that will examine the Fed’s methods, analytical tools and policy approaches and provide “candid feedback” for the Federal Open Market Committee.

Each task force will co-led by three external advisors, will operate independently and will be supported by Fed staff, the Federal Reserve said in a Thursday (July 9) press release.

“The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time,” Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said in the release.

The Communications task force, which will review how the Fed conveys policy deliberations and decisions, will be led by Peter R. Fisher, professor of practice, Foster School of Business, University of Washington; Arminio Fraga, founder and chairman, Gávea Investimentos, and former president, Central Bank of Brazil; and Mervyn King, former governor, Bank of England.

The Balance Sheet Policy task force, which will examine the Fed’s current balance sheet regime, will be led by Karen Dynan, professor of economics, Harvard University; Raghuram Rajan, professor of finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and former governor, Reserve Bank of India; and Jeremy Stein, professor of economics, Harvard University, and former governor, Federal Reserve Board.

The Data task force, which will improve the real economic signals that inform the Fed’s policy judgments, will be led by Raj Chetty, professor of economics, Harvard University; Doug McMillon, former president and CEO, Walmart Inc.; and Kevin Murphy, professor of economics, University of Chicago.

The Productivity and Jobs task force, which will assess the economic impact of artificial intelligence and other new general-purpose technologies, will be led by Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner, Andreessen Horowitz; Charles I. Jones, professor of economics, Stanford University, and currently on leave at Anthropic; and Asha Sharma, executive vice president and XBOX CEO, Microsoft.

The Inflation Frameworks task force, which will study how the Fed understands and responds to the drivers of inflation, will be led by Greg Mankiw, professor of economics, Harvard University, and former chairman, Council of Economic Advisers; Thomas Sargent, professor of economics, New York University, and Nobel laureate; and William White, senior fellow, C.D. Howe Institute, and former economic adviser, Bank for International Settlements.

Warsh announced during a June 17 press conference that he would be appointing five task forces on subjects that are “timely, consequential, and, in my view, worthy of a fresh look.”