Jerome H Powell: Monetary policy in a changing economy

Speech by Mr Jerome H Powell, Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at "Changing Market Structure and Implications for Monetary Policy", a symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 24 August 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. Fifteen years ago, during the period now referred to as the Great Moderation, the topic of this symposium was “Adapting to a Changing Economy.” In opening the proceedings, then-Chairman Alan Greenspan famously declared that “uncertainty is not just an important feature of the monetary policy landscape; it is the defining characteristic of that landscape." On the doorstep of the period now referred to as the Global Financial Crisis, surely few, if any, at that symposium would have imagined how shockingly different the next 15 years would be from the 15 years that preceded it.