The U.S. Federal Reserve has officially launched five task forces to pursue internal reforms following Chairman Kevin Warsh's inauguration.
The Fed said on the 9th that it had formed the five task forces and appointed more than 10 outside members. Earlier, Warsh had pledged at a press conference on the 17th of last month, immediately after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting, to create task forces covering five areas aimed at Fed reform: Fed communication, the balance sheet, data sourcing and use, productivity and jobs, and the inflation framework. In this statement, Warsh vowed that the Fed would "secure the optimal position so that it can achieve its goals at a critical time."
Each of the five task forces will be co-led by three outside experts. The members include Greg Mankiw, a Harvard University economics professor, author of the global bestseller "Mankiw's Economics" and chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in the George W. Bush administration from 2003 to 2005. Also joining were a host of prominent figures from academia and business, including Thomas Sargent, a New York University economics professor who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2011 for research on macroeconomic causality; Doug McMillon, former Walmart chief executive officer (CEO); renowned venture investor Marc Andreessen; Chad Jones, a Stanford University economics professor who has collaborated with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic; and an executive from Microsoft's (MS) Xbox division.
At an annual policy forum hosted by the European Central Bank (ECB) held in Sintra, Portugal, on the 1st, Warsh said, "It is no secret that I have believed since 2011, when I left the Fed board, until now that the Fed's balance sheet should be smaller." He explained that "it will take more than 18 weeks to reduce its size." He continued, "I will announce around next week who is joining the task forces, and I have worked to find the best talent, including economists, practitioners and experienced people." He added, "To see the situation clearly, figures from outside the United States are also included."
