The Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target and a more accountable monetary policy
The Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target and a more accountable monetary policy
- October 28, 2026
- Erin Lockwood, political science, shares expert insight in this essay for the Roosevelt Institute (part of a series on Federal Reserve accountability)
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“At the end of his tenure as Fed chair in 2013, Ben Bernanke spoke at the commemoration of the Federal Reserve’s centennial. “We must continue to emphasize two other essential values—transparency and accountability,” he said, reflecting on the central bank’s evolving role. “Ultimately, the legitimacy of our policies rests on the understanding and support of the broader American public, whose interests we are working to serve.”
Why does democratic accountability at the famously independent Fed matter, and what might that accountability look like today? We can begin to answer this question by interrogating a central orthodoxy of US monetary policy: the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target.”
Continue reading, courtesy of the Roosevelt Institute.
This essay is part of the Roosevelt Institute’s Good Life Resident program, an initiative designed to develop emerging leaders and generate people-centered ideas across the Roosevelt Institute’s key economic policy priorities. Explore the full series on Federal Reserve accountability.
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