On Thursday, December 11th, University of Maryland professor Thomas Drechsel gave a guest presentation in our program’s Washington, DC location.  Dr. Drechsel presented his paper, “Political Pressure on the Fed,” which has recently been accepted for publication in The Review of Economic Studies.  The research uses data on personal interactions between U.S. Presidents and Federal Reserve officials to estimate the effects of political pressure on the Fed.  He finds that political pressure to ease monetary policy increases inflation without increasing real economic activity or reducing unemployment.  These effects differ from the effects of typical monetary policy, possibly because political pressure on the Fed has a stronger effect on inflation expectations. 

The guest presentation and reception was coordinated with a meeting of our program’s core Macroeconomics course, taught by longtime economist at the International Monetary Fund Dr. Arto Kovanen.  The event was also open to all our students and alumni, including students from the version of our program on our main campus in College Park (also within the Washington, DC metro area, less than 10 miles from downtown), and students in the online version of our program (many of whom also live in the Washington, DC area even though their classes meet online).  

We look forward to more guest presentations from our own department’s research faculty, and from some of the many prominent economists working in the Washington, DC area.