In Fed meetings, decision making is free – but not equal.

With its ability to influence interest rates globally, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve is arguably one of the most important decision making bodies on the planet. But how does it come to its decisions? In new research which analyses transcripts of FOMC deliberations over nearly 30 years, Joseph Gardner and John T. Woolley find that women speak less than men for nearly their entire tenure on the FOMC. While women are free to speak, they write, they do not participate equally in FOMC deliberations, and this could be influencing policy choices.