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Strategic behavior of Federal Open Market Committee board members: Evidence from members’ forecasts

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  • Nakazono, Yoshiyuki

Abstract

In this paper, we use panel data to test whether Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) board members’ forecasts are rational. Rationality is rejected in the sense that forecasts by members are heavily dependent on previous own forecasts and last consensus made in FOMC. Furthermore, we reveal the strategic behavior of FOMC board members. Forecasts by governors, who always have voting rights, agree much with the previous consensus of FOMC members’ forecasts. In contrast, non-governors, who rotate voting rights, exaggerate their forecasts: they aggressively deviate their forecasts from previous consensus. The former is herding behavior and the latter is anti-herding behavior. Our results imply that individual members behave strategically; governors want to present policy-consistent forecasts to the Congress and non-governors utilize their forecasts to influence decision making in FOMC.

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  • Nakazono, Yoshiyuki, 2013. "Strategic behavior of Federal Open Market Committee board members: Evidence from members’ forecasts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 62-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:93:y:2013:i:c:p:62-70
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.07.013
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    Cited by:

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    3. S. Yanki Kalfa & Jaime Marquez, 2021. "Forecasting FOMC Forecasts," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-21, September.
      • S. Yanki Kalfa & Jaime Marquez, 2018. "Forecasting FOMC Forecasts," Working Papers 2018-007, The George Washington University, Department of Economics, H. O. Stekler Research Program on Forecasting.
    4. Jaime Marquez, 2023. "Stylized Facts of the FOMC’s Longer-Run Forecasts," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Hamza Bennani, 2016. "Measuring Monetary Policy Stress for Fed District Representatives," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 63(2), pages 156-176, May.
    6. Jaime Marquez & S Yanki Kalfa, 2021. "The Forecasts of Individual FOMC Members: New Evidence after Ten Years," Working Papers 2021-003, The George Washington University, Department of Economics, H. O. Stekler Research Program on Forecasting.
    7. S. Yanki Kalfa & Jaime Marquez, 2019. "FOMC Forecasts: Are They Useful for Understanding Monetary Policy?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Goldstein, Nathan & Zilberfarb, Ben-Zion, 2021. "Do forecasters really care about consensus?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. repec:cup:judgdm:v:10:y:2015:i:1:p:86-96 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Tzu-Pu CHANG, Ray Yeutien CHOU & Ray Yeutien CHOU, 2018. "Anchoring Effect on Macroeconomic Forecasts : A Heterogeneity Approach," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 134-147, December.
    11. Arthur Carvalho, 2015. "Tailored proper scoring rules elicit decision weights," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 10(1), pages 86-96, January.
    12. Arthur Carvalho & Stanko Dimitrov & Kate Larson, 2018. "On proper scoring rules and cumulative prospect theory," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 6(3), pages 343-376, November.
    13. Smales, Lee A. & Apergis, Nick, 2016. "The influence of FOMC member characteristics on the monetary policy decision-making process," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 216-231.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Anchoring; Federal Reserve; Inflation forecast; Herding; Monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • E27 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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