A conversation with Federal Reserve Governor Adriana D. Kugler

With the inflation rate coming down, the labor market still tight, and a soft landing in sight, the Federal Reserve faces some big questions this year: Has the war on inflation really been won? What pace of wage increases are consistent with reaching the Fed’s inflation target? How will the Fed decide when it’s time to cut interest rates? What can the Fed do to broaden financial inclusion and improve financial literacy?

On February 7 at the Brookings Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, Federal Reserve Governor Adriana D. Kugler  spoke about her outlook for the economy and monetary policy in her first speech since joining the Fed’s board in September 2023. Kugler was most recently the U.S. executive director at the World Bank. She is on leave from Georgetown University where she is a professor of public policy and economics and was vice provost for faculty. From 2011 to 2013, Kugler was chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Following her remarks, Kugler responded to questions from Donald Kohn, the Robert V. Roosa chair in international economics in the Hutchins Center, and from the in-person and virtual audiences.

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