Biden’s Fed Pick Is Not What the Economy Needs
Adriana Kugler would tilt the central bank toward a labor market focus when inflation expertise is needed.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the G-7 meeting. The US economy could use more finance expertise, not another labor specialist.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Monetary policy is at a critical point. The choices made by the Federal Open Market Committee in the next few years will determine if we get inflation under control, how fast our economy grows and what happens in financial markets. We need to be guided by the best economists and experts with deep knowledge of these issues, as well as of the trade-offs that balancing all these challenges pose. This should include at least one person in the group who possesses a deep understanding of the macro economy and how it interacts with financial markets.
But that’s not what we’re getting. President Joe Biden’s latest pick for the Fed’s Board of Governors, Adriana Kugler, is a great labor economist, but the board lacks anyone with financial macro expertise, and that’s what we need to get the economy through this difficult period.