Potential Leadership Changes at the Federal Reserve and Economic Insights

The Wall Street Journal reports US President Trump may announce the next Federal Reserve Chair in September or October. The Senate needs to confirm the Chair, and in Trump’s first term was prepared to oppose several of Trump’s Fed nominees. Only convention prevents the Fed from overruling the Chair—an obvious political appointee may be ignored by the FOMC. The greatest threat to policy independence would be someone who was not an obvious political puppet but was swayed by Trump’s instructions.