For all you smarties out there: What economic figures...

Question

What economic figures might you use to determine how well you were doing if you were chairman of the federal reserve?

Answer 1

Inflation rate, focusing more on core than headline, because no Fed chairman can control the prices of oil and food

GDP growth rate, to show how well you're encouraging growth

New investment, to see if your policies are truly stimulating investment

Exchange rate, to see you you're affecting the value of the dollar

Unemployment rate

Answer 2

Since your primary charge is to maintain a stable currency, I'd start with that.  

Answer 3

GDP growth rate

GDP per capita

unemployment rate

and most important of all the inflation rate

I wish they would focus on the declining value of the dollar as a result of their actions.

Answer 4

Certainly the ones that *should* directly influence monetary supply

- Inflation Rates, both Consumer and Production rates

- Unemployment, including seasonal and chronic

Then I would throw in

- Propensity to buy-or-invest at current Interest rates - This is important because the Fed uses interest rates a lot to control the economy. However, lower confidence can nullify the effect. Which means a change would not make much of a difference.

But monetary policy is just half the story. The Federal Reserve uses nationally aggregated statistics which current monetary policy probably underserves half the popuplation and overserves the other half. And, unfortunately, any new money tends to slosh toward boom areas (where investments are more sure) and not the depressed areas where the stimulus is more needed.

And because of that, we are underperforming. New money directed to a depressed area of the economy is not inflationary, while new money in a boom area can be very inflationary.

This is where Fiscal policy needs to jump into to better "fine tune" the stimulus.

So, per that objective, I would also provide statistics on under/over served areas of the economy and submit that to Congress and the President on a monthly basis along with a promise: If you direct spending from "potentially inflationary" boom areas to "non-inflationay" underserved areas, the Fed can then stimulate the economy that much more adding to our national productivity levels.

I apologize for going beyond what you were asking. I'll stop here.

(Good question though)