(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran may still hope to persuade his central bank colleagues that there’s a case for dramatic reductions in interest rates.
But he hasn’t convinced many on Wall Street.
Economists poured cold water on Miran’s first major policy speech, in which he argued that the Trump administration’s policies — on trade, immigration, taxes and regulation — have significantly lowered the level of interest rates needed to guard against inflation.
That suggests the Fed’s benchmark rate is now far too high, Miran said, arguing policymakers have been slow to recognize this fundamental change.
“We find some of his arguments questionable, others incomplete and almost none persuasive,” JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Michael Feroli wrote in a note to clients.
Miran was confirmed to the Fed’s Board of Governors just in time for the central bank’s Sept. 16-17 meeting, at which policymakers cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point after keeping them on hold all year. He dissented in favor of a larger half-point reduction, and gave his first public address last week in support of his argument.
Speaking to the Economic Club of New York on Sept. 22, Miran called for outsize rate cuts to quickly get to what policymakers call the neutral level, which neither stimulates nor hampers economic growth. He added he’d likely continue to dissent at upcoming Fed meetings as well if that’s what it takes to make his point.
Instant Outlier
The speech instantly made Miran — who was appointed to fill a vacancy at the Fed by President Donald Trump after serving as a top economic adviser in the White House — an outlier at the central bank. Fed officials had been wary about rate cuts this year with inflation still well above their 2% goal, but finally decided to act this month given signs of weakness in the labor market.
Since the meeting, many policymakers have been reluctant to endorse additional cuts, let alone outsize moves in rapid succession. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said there’s “limited room” for more easing given elevated inflation, while Mary Daly — the San Francisco Fed chief who says she is supportive of additional reductions — maintained the timeline is still unclear.
Their hesitation was reinforced by a report Wednesday showing the US economy grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace in nearly two years. Other data that day on August orders for business equipment and the goods trade deficit boded well for third-quarter growth, and a release Thursday showed initial applications for jobless benefits fell to the lowest since mid-July.
What Bloomberg Economics Says…
“With inflation running above target for more than four years, and consensus pointing to still-high inflation and modest unemployment in the years ahead, the burden of proof in arguing for extreme easing lies with Miran.”
— Tom Orlik and Jamie Rush. To read the full note, click here
Even so, Miran doubled down on his view. In two television interviews Thursday, he said the Fed risks damaging the economy by not moving rapidly, and outlined a plan to get to neutral through a “very short series” of half-point cuts.
Another report Friday showed consumer spending rose at a solid clip in August, while the Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation held stubbornly at 2.9%, nearly a full point above the central bank’s target.
“There is no support in this report for Stephen Miran’s suggestions that policy interest rates have to be cut right away, and by a lot,” Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note after Friday’s data. “Indeed, there is no recommendation in these numbers for any easing of monetary conditions at all!”
Not all economists totally cast aside Miran’s view. Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, said the neutral rate is probably slightly lower than the Fed thinks, and therefore policy is restrictive. But he doubts neutral is as low as Miran says.
“If real neutral rates were zero, as he claims, the economy and financial markets would have already collapsed,” Dutta said in an email after Miran’s Monday speech. “It’s tough to reconcile an economic Golden Age with a neutral rate of zero.”
–With assistance from Jonnelle Marte.
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