We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Federal reserve appointments and the politics of senate confirmation.
- Authors
Ainsley, Caitlin
- Abstract
This paper examines the politicization of Federal Reserve (Fed) appointments. In contrast to the extant appointment literature's almost exclusive focus on ideological proximity as a predictor of Fed nominations and confirmations, I theorize that senators will be more likely to vote against confirmation when their constituents have little confidence in the Fed because it allows them to more credibly defer blame on the Fed for economic downturns. Drawing on novel estimates of state-level confidence in the Fed as well as new common space estimates of senators' and central bankers' monetary policy preferences, I demonstrate that when constituents do not have confidence in the Fed, senators are less likely to vote in favor of confirmation regardless of their ideological proximity to the nominee. The results have important implications for the ability to fill Fed vacancies and, in turn, the balance of power between the Fed and regional bank Presidents in the monetary policymaking process.
- Subjects
FEDERAL Reserve bank personnel; APPOINTMENT to public office; UNITED States. Congress. Senate; CONGRESSIONAL hearings (U.S.); BOARD of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.); NOMINATIONS for public office; VOTING; CONSTITUENTS (Persons)
- Publication
Public Choice, 2022, Vol 190, Issue 1/2, p93
- ISSN
0048-5829
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11127-021-00919-5