MIT economist Peter Diamond is withdrawing his name from nomination to the Federal Reserve, now that it is clear that the Republicans in the Senate will continue to block a vote on the nomination. I am personally saddened by this outcome, as I was when the renomination of Randy Kroszner was similarly blocked by the Democrats a few years back.
Here is Peter’s op-ed about the mattter.
Along with Congressman Paul Ryan, economist John Taylor calls for a revision of the Federal Reserve’s mandate:
Quantitative easing is part of a recent Fed trend toward discretionary and away from rules-based monetary actions. The consequences of this trend are clear: The Fed’s decision to hold interest rates too low for too long from 2002 to 2004 exacerbated the formation of the housing bubble. And while the Fed did help to arrest the ensuing panic in the fall of 2008, its subsequent interventions have done more long-run harm than good….
Congress should reform the Federal Reserve Act, particularly the section of the act that establishes the Fed’s dual mandate. The Fed should be tasked with the single goal of long-run price stability within a clear framework of overall economic stability. Such a reform would not prevent the Fed from providing liquidity, serving as lender of last resort, or cutting interest rates in a financial crisis or a recession.
I am skeptical. If the Fed’s mandate were different, monetary policy today might well be the same. That is, with inflation now below its target, the Fed could be pursuing QE2 even if it were operating under the proposed mono mandate. Looking ahead, the Fed believes that inflation too low, even deflation, is a larger risk than inflation too high, so it is engaging in expansionary policy to get inflation back on target.
Several people have asked my opinion of the Federal Reserve’s new round of quantitative easing. In particular, some have noted that I did not sign the open letter by conservative economists critical of recent Fed actions.
My view is that QE2 is a modestly good idea. I say it is a “good idea” because, like Ben Bernanke, I am more worried at the moment about Japanese-style deflation and stagnation than I am about excessive inflation. By lowering long-term real interest rates below where they otherwise would be, QE2 should help expand aggregate demand. I include the modifier “modestly” because I don’t expect these actions to have a very large effect.
Moreover, I do see some potential downsides. In particular, the Fed is making its portfolio riskier. By borrowing short and investing long, the Fed is in some ways becoming the hedge fund of last resort. If future events require higher interest rates, the Fed will end up making losses on its portfolio. And even if doesn’t recognize these losses (by not marking to market), it could end up paying more interest on newly expanded reserves than it is earning on its newly acquired portfolio of long bonds. Such a cash-flow deficit could potentially undermine the Fed’s political independence (which is already not very popular in some circles). Yet if the Fed tries to avoid these losses by failing to raise rates when needed, inflation could indeed become a problem down the road. I trust the team at the Fed enough to think they will avoid that mistake.
So, in the end, I judge QE2 to be a small but risky step in the right direction.
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Addendum: While I do not agree with its conclusion, I did find this video on QE2 amusing.
