Kocherlakota Hinted at Willingness to Dissent Last Year

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota identified limits to Fed policy in a speech last year that suggested he might be willing to break ranks with his colleagues. On Aug. 9, he made his move.

The 47-year-old economist said in a September speech that 2.5 percentage points or more of the U.S. jobless rate is due to mismatches between workers and businesses, including location, which the Fed lacks the tools to fix. “Central bankers alone cannot solve the world’s economic problems,” Kocherlakota said.