Powell announces new Fed approach to inflation that could keep rates lower for longer

tweet at 9:07am: FED'S POWELL: FED WILL NOW TARGET 2% INFLATION ON AVERAGE tweet at 9:07am: POWELL: NEW FED STRATEGY IS 'FLEXIBLE FORM OF AVERAGE INFLATION TARGETING' tweet at 9:08am: POWELL: ACKNOWLEDGES IT IS 'COUNTERINTUITIVE' FOR FED TO WANT HIGHER INFLATION tweet at 9:08am: FED'S POWELL: CAN HAVE ROBUST JOB MARKET WITHOUT INFLATION OUTBREAKPowell: New Economic Challenges and the Fed's Monetary Policy Review Thank you, Esther, for that introduction, and good morning. The Kansas City Fed's Economic Policy Symposiums have consistently served as a vital platform for discussing the most challenging economic issues of the day. Judging by the agenda and the papers, this year will be no exception. For the past year and a half, my colleagues and I on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have been conducting the first-ever public review of our monetary policy framework.1 Earlier today we released a revised Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy, a document that lays out our goals, articulates our framework for monetary policy, and serves as the foundation for our policy actions.2 Today I will discuss our review, the changes in the economy that motivated us to undertake it, and our revised statement, which encapsulates the main conclusions of the review. We began this public review in early 2019 to assess the monetary policy strategy, tools, and communications that would best foster achievement of our congressionally assigned goals of maximum employment and price stability over the years ahead in service to the American people. Because the economy is always evolving, the FOMC's strategy for achieving its goals—our policy framework—must adapt to meet the new challenges that arise. Forty years ago, the biggest problem our economy faced was high and rising inflation.3 The Great Inflation demanded a clear focus on restoring the credibility of the FOMC's commitment to price stability. Chair Paul Volcker brought that focus to bear, and the "Volcker disinflation," with the continuing stewardship of Alan Greenspan, led to the stabilization of inflation and inflation expectations in the 1990s at around 2 percent. The monetary policies of the Volcker era laid the foundation for the long period of economic stability known as the Great Moderation. This new era brought new challenges to the conduct of monetary policy. Before the Great Moderation, expansions typically ended in overheating and rising inflation. Since then, prior to the current pandemic-induced downturn, a series of historically long expansions had been more likely to end with episodes of financial instability, prompting essential efforts to substantially increase the strength and resilience of the financial system.4

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