Thread by @KalebNygaard

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell Still looking, but here’s an interesting paper on group think that is focused on the research divisions of central banks (as opposed to the policy makers). kolegia.sgh.waw.pl/pl/KAE/Documen…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell Also🔥🔥🔥from the Romers so I’m sure I’m the only one here who is reading it for the first time haha. “Results may indicate that the FOMC’s attempts to add information to the staff forecast are not just unsuccesful, but may lead to inappropriate actions” eml.berkeley.edu/~dromer/papers…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [1/?] Will be going through the Oral Histories and throwing anything interesting I come across here regarding “History of Research” or the likes. First up, Chairman Martin gives permission to present annual forecasts around 1967. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [2/?] Burns, first PhD Fed chair, and living up to his name, brings some 🔥 to the department.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [3/?] Typewriters, Lexitrons, tables, shorthand, longhand, and then computers. Working from 8-5, “the people in Research were very serious about work ethics”. (Picture of Lexitron including to save you the google search!)

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [4/?] Susan Bies - first female PhD Fellow in the Chicago Fed’s Research department 👩💪🥇🙌. “Research, which we feel should be the unique view of each Reserve Bank (not overseen by the Board)” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [5/?] *Mr* Vice Chairman. “The Governor floor is a lot like a mausoleum”To combat this Blinder sent a memo to econs(not legal/S&R 😂) “The Vice Chairman’s office is not a castle” 🏰🤴Read the highlights to hear why the offer was only taken up by one person federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [6/?] 🕵️‍♂️😎📈🔥 not Research related but so *Fed*. “We used to get a memo three times a day with market prices you could read on a Bloomberg, but it came covered w/ a FOMC Class 1-coversheet! You had to pull off the coversheet to see the price then put it in a burn bag!”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [7/?] Blinder (Vice Chair), after being so frustrated the staff wouldn’t let him see how they created the forecast, told them, “I’m just not going to pay any attention to your forecast. It’s a total black box.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [8/?] nR (new acronym for this thread for “not research department related”, but little jewels I find along the way). Blinder pushing for (and losing 18-1) the radical *release a statement after every FOMC meeting*, “I couldn’t even get Janet Yellen to go with me!” #theoldendays

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [9/?] nR,

Interviewer: “Let’s talk about when you left the Fed.”

Blinder: “Fleeing the Fed, as John Cassidy put it” 🏃

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [10/?] nR Andrew Brimmer mentions in the oral history that he was working on his memoirs. I don’t believe they were published when he passed in 2012 😢. We need a historian biographer to go in and finish them for him. Get his incredible story out.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [11/?] More evidence of the division between the policy makers and the staff. “I always worked through the directors of those divisions...the Board had an academic flavor.” 🍬

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [12/?] the coordination between the two biggest divisions, R&S and International, increased over time. One of the early challenges was simply a lack of ability to measure how international events would affect the domestic economy. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [13/?] IT started within R&S, then became its own division, then was bounced around a bit and divided between the divisions.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [14/?] *the* model was coded first by Bob Rasche, then Jared Enzler took over, “because I already had FORTAN programming skills” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [15/?] “the computer was an enormous frustration all during the period through 1987 when I left.” See pages 17-29 for the full “Battle of the Computers” ⚔️💻💣 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [16/?] The 🌊 of PhDs begins, “we didn’t hire anything except budding PhDs from major universities. That hadn’t happened before.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [17/?] Q to one of the PhD’s in the 🌊 “What was your image of the Fed?”

A: “One that the typical smart-ass youngster - full of himself after getting a PhD at a good university - I’ll get over there and straighten them out.” oh + 2hrs🏓 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [18/?] Three routes up for econs:

1) Head down📝publish📝publish📝publish📝
2) “Be a good economist. Do some research, but also involve yourself in ad hoc Fed policy work. *This was the ideal employee*”
3) “Be adept at statistics and understand/apply others’ research.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [19/?] Where did Chair Burns get his 🔥 you ask?

“Burns told me later that he was frightened about being Fed Chair and how he’d get along with people. He decided the best way to proceed was to come on strong, be aggressive and ask for a lot, to demonstrate he was in charge.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [20/?]nR “You can write all the contingency plans in the world. Each crisis is different, and they’re not going to be helpful. Experienced senior staff/Board members are critical.”
I’ve heard this view before. Not sure why they’re so often couched as one or the other.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [21/?] 1970s Fed economists realizing the payment system itself is worth studying 🔦💸💸🤯 ...also with computers technically possible federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell [22/?] nR, @michaelsderby, let’s start a band with the name, “The Y2K Fishbowl” What we playing??

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [23/?] Do we have a name for the 🌊? Dan Brill (~1964) is credited with convincing Chair Martin that the staff was “utterly inadequate” 😳 and he “got permission to use whatever money was needed to build a staff.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [24/?] The Fed’s first computer? ~1955 IBM 650 💻

Herbie, “dragged the Fed kicking and screaming into the age of the computer.” After getting the computer he “offered programming classes to the staff.” p5-6

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [25/?] Economists at the Fed aren’t studying monetary policy 100% of the time. Q “Is the Fed wasting too many resources on research?”

Gov Gramley’s response, “The Fed has got to be the best research institution in the world. That means having people follow their own interests.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [26/?]nR Interviewer: “Met with other central banks since leaving the Fed?”

Gramley: “No”

Int.: “But you’re reading our working papers, right?”

Gramley: “.......the ones I can...My Econ was learned in the 50s. I try and get through the abstracts..” 😅

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [27/?] That time the Discount Window “broke” and Greenspan’s response was, “it’s crazy. If you want to fix it, I’m all behind you, but I’m not going to fix it.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [28/?]nR. July 2007, a month befre BNP Paribas halted redemption on those funds, Gramlich published a book called “Subprime Mortgages: America’s Latest Boom and Bust”. Not sure how I haven’t heard of this before. He was a gov 97-05’. Anybody read it? amazon.com/Subprime-Mortg…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [29/?]nR. Greenspan’s first reaction to the job of Fed Chair? “There were a lot of meetings that did not, as far as I could judge, make much sense.” #beenthere #notruerwords federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [30/?] Greenspan worked easily with the “Barons” and had no sympathy for any Governor that felt they couldn’t go toe-to-toe with the “formidable and experienced” staff. The Barons were💥🤭 “much smarter than the average Board member, had far greater tech knowledge, and history.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [31/?] Staff pay, by convention/tradition, had been equal to civil service pay (much lower than the market). Greenspan changed that💰💰💰 “It was more of a pending problem than it was an actual problem.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [32/?]nR. Interesting anecdote with the Q, “Did you go into FOMC meetings with an open mind?”

“Almost never. I should hope that, with due deliberations, I could get my view changed by others’ comments leading up to the vote, and not at the meeting.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [33/?] Greenspan here with the same conclusion as the Romers 🔥 from like 30 tweets ago #sorrynotsorry

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [34/?] 🔨 Heller and three other Governors forced (might not be the right word) Volcker to split the leadership of Research and Monetary Policy. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [35/?] Despite being the Governor in charge of the “Research Committee”, effectively it was the Chair calling the shots and doling out assignments to Research staff. For a time, Govs didn’t have any designated staff. Heller says he, “got his own research assistant.” 🤷‍♂️

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [36/?] “The Fed may be on the verge of being over staffed rather than understaffed”

So many anecdotes like this,

Snr official, “I need to know XXXX (something obscure like number of freight cars in the Midwest)”

Staffer in the back of the room pipes up with the exact answer.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [37/?] A “tap-dancing elephant” is the best description of the Fed during the Crisis I’ve ever heard 🐘💃 (p84-85) federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [38/?]nR.❣️🏴‍☠️I am delighted to report that the Board of Governors’ official flag was designed by Gov Heller’s 15 year old daughter. So many jewels in this you have to read the full two page story!! 🏴‍☠️❣️ federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [39/?] The relationship (formal and informal) between the Supervision&Regulation dept and the Research dept is an interesting and important one. Hopefully I’ll come across more details as I go. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [40/?] Here’s an anecdote where Research staff obvi hadn’t collaborated with S&R staff before a proposal was made to the Board.

“The Research staff proposed that ‘we shall require every bank to totally write off as a loss any loan that is 3 monthly installments past due.’”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [41/?] Vice Chair Manuel Johnson compares working with Treasury staff and Fed staff.

🌭“There is much less sausage made at the Fed.”🌭 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [42/?]nR. Another big technilogical step 📟 For the first time the Board gets real-time financial data! How you ask? A Telerate machine. Then this 😂

“Paul (Volcker), come on. You’ve got to modernize this place.”

“I’m not ever having a PC on my desk. But you can if you want.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [43/?] Interesting job responsibility of Barons, “watch out for Governors with their own agenda who want to use career staff to pursue that agenda” 🕵️‍♀️

How Govs can/cannot use staff is “a gray area...there are no guidelines.”

In using staff, Govs at slight disadvantge to RBPres

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [44/?] as close to a mission statement I’ve seen so far “Ted Truman explained that our job was to give the best possible analytical presentation to the FOMC that we could, to arm them with as much useful insight into the forces at work that they were dealing w/ as we psbly could”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [45/?] 🌎🌍Evolution of the Fed’s relationship with other CBs affected Govs and Staff alike. The BIS globalized and the Chair and VC began attending meetings.

IF division sometimes had trouble getting R&S staff to engage with foreign counterparts. p74-79 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [46/?] “Were outsiders ever seriously considered as division directors?”

“It was always brought up but never panned out...reserving the highest positions for outsiders always raised concerns about staff morale. The culture of the Board was to promote from within.”

& Barons’ job

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [47/?] As mentioned in [25/?], Fed economists don’t only spend time on policy (they call it “current work”). They also spend time doing their own research (just called “research”). Great‼️insight here into how individuals and leadership decide how to allocate time between the two

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [48/?] When formalizing PMPs for the research divisions, the Board decided not to do it like the FRBNY where researchers got points for publications in papers (more points for “classA” journals, less points for “classB” or “classC” journals) and points per citation. 😳😅

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [49/?] So how’s a budding economist supposed to succeed at the Board? Johnson has the roadmap! Choose from the below:
a)✏️do good “research”
b)🗣do good “current work”
c)💡have tremendous initiative and come up with good ideas
d)🙏be a good leader
e)😁make the Fed look good

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [50/?] The issue with all of those different routes up the ranks is, “it becomes harder to be objective” about promotions. ❓⬆️❓⬇️❓

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [51/?] “You had to be realistic. You were not going to keep all the strong people. On the other hand, if you started losing large number of these strong people, you were doing something wrong.”

“There was as a time when the IMF was really eating our lunch!” 🦖🦖🦖

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [52/?] “the issue of economist webpages” 👩‍💻😂 Johnson lists some!
a) how much time can they spend on it?
b) posts have to be approved?
c) who owns the content?
d) what if we hire you and you already have one?

Personal fav! e) “now you can just put photos of your little dog” 🐶

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [53/?] Gov Karen Johnson (most insightful interview so far) concludes with one final challenge I’ve heard from others as well - “the 508 requirement”. This means all material (graphs, charts included) must also be in text so it can be read to the blind. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [54/?] Gov Edward Kelley, “I was on the Board’s Committee on Research and Statistics, which was a joke.” 😂🤣...wait...not that kind of joke? 😯

Also, looks like Governors had a significant role in deciding research staff promotions and compensation.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [55/?] That time Greenspan switched the seating chart for Board/Staff mtgs so they were sitting “much, much closer together.” His explanation for the change was that, “he didn’t feel like he’d been getting information from the staff quickly enough.”

“Typical Greenspan humor.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [56/?] Board meetings used to be small gatherings with only presenting senior staff. Over time division directors brought younger staff to come and observe so they’d be better prepared when it was their turn. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [57/?] Just going to drop these fine quotes here about writing the green/blue books📚😂

“What can I say? What’s different this month? Reading it cover to cover was a grim process. Got bombarded with material - which now that I’m retired would bore me to tears.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [58/?] Yikes 😬 Chair Burns blocked some research because a congressman didn’t like the results. “The Burns Fed was not an environment that welcomed diverse views. It was not a good environment for research.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [59/?] 🎉🎂 In 1987 Don Kohn became the first Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs.

Fascinating - “After Volcker left as Chairman, he came back to the Board and spent some time in an office somewhere and tried to figure out how to fix the research division.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [60/?] Leave it to the economists to distribute the staff annually on a bell curve and pay/promote accordingly. 🛎 To Kohn’s surprise, “it worked out better than I thought it would.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [61/?] The Taylor rule’s debut in Bluebook. “I had three to five different specifications of the Taylor rule, not just one. That was a message from me to the policy makers that there were a range of outcomes, and no one rule was going to be definitive.” ✅ #modelsarenotreallife

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [62/?]nR. My first mystery novel will be called, “The Missing Box of Bluebooks”🕵️‍♂️📦📖

Pretty wild process to get those Bluebooks edited, printed, and in the FOMC members’ hands! p7-8, 13-19. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [63/?]
1961: Dartmouth gathering for 1st attempt to build national model. Fed “extremely embarrassed when they realized, after the first week, they had nothing to offer..😳”
1964: model complete
1965: first results come out. But then no one knew how to get inputs 🤷‍♂️

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [64/?] The days when it was literally against the rules at the Fed to produce a forecast.

🚫🚫🚫

“There was to be no forward looking because that didn’t make sense.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [65/?] To the new hire at the FRBNY in 1975, “Do whatever you want. You can spend all your time doing research, or you can spend some proportion of your time doing what everybody else does in your division.” Meyers decided to split 50-50. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [66/?] Governor Meyer, “being a division director would have been incredibly fun, and in many ways, more rewarding than being a member of the Board.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [67/?]nR. Joyous Yellen anecdote💞

“We’d go upstairs and have a hot dog together. She’d be writing all over the tablecloth, drawing me all these pictures of relationships of which I had no idea. She was the best economist I have ever worked with. When she left there was a void”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [68/?] That time Bernanke turned down the head of Research job at the FRBNY. But no worries, Mishkin was going through a midlife crisis (not involving women he’d like the record to show 😂) and took the post and turned the place upside down. federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [69/?]nR. Everyone’s a kid at heart ❤️ “During the restoration of the FOMC room we moved to the terrace level of the Martin Building. The chairs in that room rolled around, which the Governors loved.” federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [70/?] Wow, in the late 70’s/early 80’s Fed staff tried to create a union. Vice Chair Schultz talked them out of it. One of the concessions, which Volcker grudgingly accepted, was to introduce 🕐flex time🕟 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [71/?]nR. That time FedVC & Treas Sec sent mocking notes back&forth attached to homemade toys. What??

“Dear Don, you can have any kind of monetary policy you want if you push up and down on the plunger”

“Dear Fred, if you guys stop yo-yoing the money supply we’ll be all right”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [72/?]nR. No dress code at the Board until...hot pants 🩳😂 (Summer 1971) federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [73/?] Was the Fed becoming too academic? Too “egghead”? Leadership determined it was worth it.

“The Board became a patron of the arts by supporting a considerable amount of research that didn’t have a director or even an indirect relevance to monetary policy.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [74/?]
🚒 Firemen have hoses
🚔 police have tasers
...
☎️ financial crisis fighters have conference calls

“They were like a financial SWAT team. They had worked hard to develop contacts in banks and elsewhere so they could find out what was going on in a crisis.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [75/?] In many of the staff’s view, Chair Burns was being politically loyal to Nixon and making a major policy mistake. During one FOMC meeting, “at the staff end of the table, we were all writing notes to each other about how horrible this was.” p25 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [76/?] Within a central bank research staff, what’s the right balance of generalists and specialists?

Stockton opines, “one of the great strengths of the staff in the crisis was the generalists who were able to think through how to design programs” But it’s a balance.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [77/?] At one point there was a “think tank” within the Research and Stats division - “the people in white lab coats”👨🏾‍🔬🧑🏼‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬

It was disbanded so all staff could work on both policy work (current work) and more general research.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [78/?] “The independence of the staff’s research was considered sacrosanct” ✅

“But there was a rule that Board staff had to review all articles being published by the Reserve Banks.”

Geesh.

Stockton convinced the Board to stop that practice 👌🏼

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [79/?] This is inspiring 🥰 Teeters, first female Gov

~1960
Teeters, “I went down to my boss Axilrod to resign after my daughter was born”

Axilrod, “do you want to come back?”

T, “Yes, but I don’t think I should work full time”

A, “All right, then we’ll do it that way”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [80/?] And to make [79/?] even better? Teeters was joined by two others seeking part time.

The 2nd? A man who needed to take care of his mother. 👵🤗

And the 3rd? A guy who wanted to take care of his farm. 🐮 🌾

Took 4 months to approve it - but they did it 👏🏼

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [81/?] Fascinating history of Fed’s relationship with the BIS, including: (a) a tussle between the Board and FRBNY over who would represent the Fed in Basel, (b) How differs from the IMF, (c) It’s ever changing relationship with finance ministers. p222-232 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [82/?] Remember back in [5/?] about Blinder’s note to staff, reminding them his office wasn’t a castle 🏰 and that they could come see him? Only one person showed up. Truman was to blame. Here’s his explanation for why he did it.

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [83/?] We’ve used the term “Baron” many times in this insanely long thread! Who coined it you’ve wondered??

“The term was invented by Dave Shannon. It was used to complain to the Board how he couldn’t get anything done because he was being blocked by the three division heads.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [84/?]nR. I searched and searched and couldn’t find any pictures of what I’m about to describe. If you have any - you must share them!!

🎄🎅

Truman, “The high point of my career was when I dressed up as Santa Claus and presided over the Christmas tree lighting.”

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [85/87] (!!!) The end has arrived. This was a delightful journey. Thanks @PeterContiBrown for the question 🐇🕳

A few final thoughts:
(i) Some of my favorite job Fed job titles: Father of the Bluebook Vehicle 🚙 Fed Prince 👑 Person in a White Lab Coat 👩🏻‍🔬

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [86/87]

(ii) I wasn’t perfect at citations, find linked a single pdf with all of the interviews combined if you need to ctrl-f anything.
(iii) dms are always open if you have questions or just want to connect.

drive.google.com/file/d/1dlBxxd…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby [87/87]

(v) I wish they’d publish the audio - even if parts have to be edited out because the interviewees changed the transcript in post.

Done done done 🎉

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @michaelsderby Correction: Karen Johnson was the Director of International Finance, not a Governor. Shout out to the one and only that saw this! federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fi…

@PeterContiBrown @Claudia_Sahm @DavidBeckworth @dandolfa @sam_a_bell @threadreaderapp unroll. My thread may not be continuous...plus it’s like 90 tweets long. Wonder if this’ll work!