The Research–Policy Nexus: ZLB, JMCB, and FOMC

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12763
• Date: 01 December 2020

DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12763

JOHN C. WILLIAMS

The Research–Policy Nexus: ZLB, JMCB,and

FOMC

J M K , “Practical men, who be-

lieve themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual inuences, are usually the

slaves of some defunct economist.” I wonder whether Keyneswould see this as a fea-

ture rather than a bug in light of his enduring inuence on the profession more than

70 years after his death.

The theme of my talk today is that during my quarter century as a researcher and

policymaker at the Fed, we have not been overly beholden to defunct economists.

Quite the contrary. A quick scan of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

memos, briengs, and meeting minutes provides ample evidence that a wide range

of economic research—new and old, conventional, and outside the box—regularly

enters into our debates and inuences our decisions. This represents a rich two-way

dialogue between researchers and policymakers, with both sides probing for new an-

swers to old questions.

I could list a long catalog of examples of the synergistic relationship between re-

search and policymaking at central banks. Instead, I will focus my comments today

on one specic topic: the zero lower bound on interest rates, or ZLB for short. This

topic has obvious importance to central bank practice past, present, and future. In

addition, the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking (JMCB), the 50th anniversary

of which we are recognizing today, played a very important role in shaping how we

think about the ZLB. Today I would like to highlight how this work has inuenced

my own thinking, as a researcher and policymaker.

Before I proceed any further, I should give the usual disclaimer that everything I

say today reects my own views and not necessarily those of the FOMC or anyone

else in the Federal Reserve System.

Remarks at the Conference Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Journal of Money, Credit and

Banking, Federal Reserve Bank of New York,New York City.

Email: john.c.williams@ny.frb.org

Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Supplement to Vol. 52, No. S2 (December 2020)

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