Fed Chairman Warsh names members of monetary policy task forces

By Bryan Mena, Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

(CNN) — Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh on Thursday unveiled the members of the five task forces that will examine key issues that shape US monetary policy as part of his broader bid to reshape the world’s most powerful central bank.

In addition to academics and former central bankers, they include prominent business leaders such as former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon; Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz; and Asha Sharma, the executive vice president and Xbox CEO at Microsoft.

The new teams will “operate independently, with a mandate to follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings for the Federal Open Market Committee,” Warsh said in a statement.

It’s unclear how the task force selections were made, but several members have overlapped with Warsh professionally, including during his first stint at the Fed; while serving as a special assistant to former President George H.W. Bush; and at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, where Warsh was a visiting fellow for 15 years.

Of the task force members, Andreessen’s connection to Warsh appears to be strongest, dating back 30 years to when the two attended Stanford University together.

In an interview last year, Warsh referred to Andreessen as one of his “friends from my days in college.” When President Donald Trump first announced he was nominating Warsh, Andreessen posted on X: “This is a fantastically good choice.”

“I’ve known Kevin for 30 years; he combines great insight in economics and finance with keen understanding of technology and business,” he added.

Warsh first announced the task force initiative at his inaugural press conference as new chairman of the central bank, in June, saying the panels would study factors affecting the Fed’s monetary policymaking. The task forces are expected to conclude their work by the end of the year, culminating in a set of recommendations for improving monetary policymaking.

“My hope is that the results of these can be a public good if we make progress in thinking about the effect of productivity, the effect of data, new inflation frameworks,” Warsh said last week at central banking event in Sintra, Portugal.

Warsh’s decision to create a task force examining productivity has fueled speculation that he may be more open to lowering rates this year. Last year, he said AI could justify rate cuts if the technology can deliver a meaningful — and sustained — boost to productivity. However, AI’s effect on the economy is being debated among Fed officials, some of whom are warning it may actually stoke inflation pressures.

New York Fed President John Williams on Thursday at an event organized by the New York Fed said that AI-driven demand could outstrip supply, potentially leading to “the kind of situation where you don’t look through this,” meaning the Fed must hike rates to tamp down price pressures.

But, at the same time, AI could also take some steam out of inflation — if it results in higher productivity. Warsh has suggested he’s confident that may be the case. Last month, he noted the uptick in productivity over the past year: “If the last four quarters are an indication, which is really largely before the advent of the new surge in what artificial intelligence can do, I think there’s reason to be optimistic now.”

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