Announcing Projections
Bernanke’s efforts to increase openness also include revealing policy makers’ interest-rate forecasts and announcing projections for economic growth, unemployment and inflation four times a year, compared with twice under former Chairman Alan Greenspan.
“The Fed’s role in the public’s mind has been enhanced” as it has “intervened more expansively in the economy than ever before,” said Marvin Goodfriend, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon and a former adviser at the Richmond Fed. “As people become knowledgeable about the Fed’s powers, the Fed, in turn, has an interest in making itself more understandable. That’s a dynamic that’s likely to continue.”