Ex-RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Two Indian-Origin Experts Appointed To US Federal Reserve Task Forces

The US Federal Reserve announced the leadership of five task forces aimed at advancing the conduct of monetary policy on Thursday, with three Indian-origin experts appointed to key roles, including former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, according to the US Federal Reserve.

The task forces will examine areas central to monetary policy, including communications, balance sheet policy, data, productivity and jobs, and inflation frameworks. They will be co-led by external advisers—accomplished economists, business leaders and former central bank practitioners and operate independently with a mandate to follow the evidence and produce findings for the Federal Open Market Committee.

Rajan, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has been appointed to co-lead the Balance Sheet Policy task force alongside Karen Dynan of Harvard University and Jeremy Stein, a former Federal Reserve governor. The task force will examine the costs, benefits and institutional implications of the Fed's current balance sheet regime.

The Data task force, which aims to improve the quality and timeliness of real economic signals informing policy judgments, will be co-led by Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Harvard University, along with Doug McMillon, former president and CEO of Walmart Inc., and Kevin Murphy, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

The Productivity and Jobs task force, which will assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies including artificial intelligence, will be co-led by Asha Sharma, Executive Vice President and CEO of Xbox at Microsoft Corp, alongside Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz and Charles I Jones of Stanford University.

Federal Reserve Chairman's Statement

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said the task forces reflect the central bank's commitment to sharpening its performance as an institution. "The US economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon," Warsh said.

"I am honoured that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time," he added.

Other Task Force Appointments

The Communications task force, which will review how the Federal Reserve conveys policy deliberations and decisions amid uncertainty, will be co-led by Peter R Fisher of the University of Washington, Arminio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank of Brazil, and Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England.

The Inflation Frameworks task force, which will revisit how the Federal Reserve understands and responds to the drivers of inflation, will be co-led by Greg Mankiw of Harvard University, Nobel laureate Thomas Sargent of New York University, and William White, former economic adviser at the Bank for International Settlements.