Perceived FOMC: The Making of Hawks, Doves and Swingers
56 Pages Posted: 30 May 2018 Last revised: 10 May 2023
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Perceived FOMC: The Making of Hawks, Doves and Swingers
Date Written: May 2018
Abstract
An important and open question in monetary economics is how the Federal Reserve makes its policy decisions. We document that when an FOMC member was born, his/her educational background and the Committee’s changing hawk-dove composition have predictable effects on FOMC decisions. The odds of an FOMC member being a hawk are higher when he/she graduated from a university linked to the Chicago school of economics; on the other hand, a dove likely graduated from a university with strong Keynesian beliefs and was born during a period of high unemployment. These findings have implications for the choice of and confirmation of FOMC members.
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