The Federal Reserve should formally announce a “commitment to an explicit 'mandate-consistent’ rate of inflation that it uses as its long-run objective for its policy deliberation,” the Shadow Open Market Committee said Tuesday.
It also urged the Fed to state a “strategic framework for credibly delivering a low-inflation environment,” since Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke said in his April press conference that “the longer-run outlook for inflation is determined almost entirely by monetary policy.”
The private committee — an independent, monetarist-oriented panel founded in 1973 that often criticizes the Federal Open Market Committee — also wants to know how the central bank measures “progress towards its inflation mandated target and over what time horizon it wishes to meet this target.”
“It is long overdue for the FOMC to adopt a credible inflation targeting framework,” the shadow committee said in a statement.
“The Shadow Open Market Committee continues to recommend that the Fed formally and unilaterally adopt a priority for targeting low inflation as necessary 'operationally’ to achieve best outcomes for both inflation and unemployment over the longer run. We believe that such a step, while potentially controversial, fulfills the Fed’s obligation to the dual mandate since only by creating a low-inflation environment can the Fed create the environment for maximum employment.”
