adriana d kugler : enriching data and analysis in economics with real life experiences speech by ms adriana d kugler, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the women in economics symposium, federal reserve bank of st. louis, st. louis, missouri, 4 april 2024. * * * thank you, president musalem, and many congratulations on the start of your new position here at the st. louis fed. we are all so happy to have you as part of the federal reserve system, and i am grateful for the opportunity to speak here today. 1 i will start with the issue that has brought us here - why it is so important for women to be a full and equitably represented part of the economics profession. there are, of course, moral reasons for economics to reflect the values of our democratic society - it is the right thing to do. but there are eminently practical reasons as well. economics favors the productive utilization of resources, and bringing more women into the profession obviously makes better use of the talents and efforts of more than half of the population. greater diversity in a workforce yields better ideas and greater productivity, and the field of economics has certainly been enriched by these contributions. but today, i would like to focus on the benefits of greater representation of women that accrue to economic research and policymaking - the way that you can make economic analysis more constructive and relevant. in a broad sense, different experiences and perspectives among those engaged in any social science should provide better insights about how people think and act. but i would like to take this point a step further and connect this issue of representation to the ways in which we approach economic research. in particular, i will describe how my own personal experience has been an important tool for me to use, in combination with the more familiar and rigorous tools of the economist, in ways that i believe have strengthened my research. in doing so, i also hope to show that personal experience can be used by you and others in our profession to provide deeper insights about the questions we grapple with. if this is true, it would constitute another way in which greater representation of women - and others with underrepresented backgrounds - will increase and enhance the valuable contributions that economics makes to society. in my discussion, i will refer to some of my own past research to illustrate my general approach to economics. importantly, though, my comments today are only illustrative of a general approach

many factors outside the control of central banks. among these factors are the advance of technology, entrepreneurial activities, the growth in the size of the labor force, the rate at which workers acquire new skills, tax and regulatory policies, and the efficiency of labor markets in matching workers with positions. consequently, the long - run sustainable rates of economic growth and unemployment should be viewed as constraints on what monetary policy can achieve and not as variables that policymakers can freely choose. in addition, estimates of sustainable rates of growth and unemployment have been shown to be highly uncertain at any point in time ; and they may vary significantly over time in light of new information and changes in the structure of the economy. thus, the longer - run projections of growth and unemployment should be treated with considerable caution. relationship to inflation targeting as you may know, i have been an advocate of the monetary policy strategy known as inflation targeting, used in many countries around the world. inflation targeting is characterized by two features : an explicit numerical target or target range for inflation and a high degree of transparency about forecasts and policy plans. the steps being taken by the federal reserve, i must emphasize, are intended only to improve our communication with the public ; the conduct of policy itself will not change. nonetheless, in light of the changes to communications we are undertaking, one might fairly ask how the federal reserve's approach relates to inflation targeting. a superficial drawback of inflation targeting is its very name, which suggests a single - minded focus on inflation to the exclusion of other goals. in fact, the practice of monetary policy in an inflation - targeting regime is not necessarily inconsistent with a dual mandate such as that given to the federal reserve ; indeed, most if not all inflation - targeting central banks today practice " flexible " inflation targeting, meaning that they take account of other economic goals besides price stability – notably economic growth, employment, and financial stability – when making policy decisions. moreover, a broad consensus exists among central banks, whether they have an explicit numerical target for inflation or not, that maintaining low and stable inflation over time is the best means by which monetary policy can promote economic efficiency and maximize the nation's economic welfare. thus, at least since the stabilization of u. s. inflation in the 1980s, the federal reserve's approach to monetary policy has had much in common with that of central banks that describe themselves as inflation targeters. nevertheless, some aspects of inflation targeting may be less well suited to the federal reserve's mandate