House Hearing: Examining Monetary Policy and Economic Opportunity

以下是 Joseph Wang 在委员会作证内容的中文翻译： Joseph Wang 在委员会的证词重点在于美国联邦储备委员会（以下简称“美联储”）对经济的重大影响、其所掌握的工具，以及由于美联储拥有相当大的自主权而导致有效监督面临的挑战。他强调理解这些复杂性对于提高货币政策效力和促进经济繁荣的重要性。 Wang 首先强调了美联储在价格稳定和充分就业的双重使命中固有的模糊性。他指出，虽然国会授权价格稳定，但美联储独立设定了 2% 的通胀目标。同样，美联储定义了被认为是“充分就业”的失业水平。这些决定对全体民众具有深远的影响。他认为，这些使命经常相互冲突，要求美联储在平衡它们和确定适当的时间表方面做出重要的判断，这使得监督变得困难。 谈到美联储的工具，Wang 将利率和资产负债表政策确定为主要工具，并将监管政策作为另一种具有重大影响的工具。他详细阐述了利率政策如何主要影响对利率敏感的行业，如住房和汽车，不成比例地影响蓝领工人和那些依赖融资进行大额购买的人。他指出，整个经济对利率的敏感性随时间变化，以资产和服务为中心的经济对利率的反应较弱。他还提到了“财富效应”，即更高的利率会降低资产价格，从而降低家庭的消费能力。他强调，资产所有权高度集中，放大了这种影响。利率上调的另一个后果是财政影响，鉴于公共债务增加以及随之而来的利息支出，目前每年超过 1 万亿美元。因此，美联储的行动对国家预算产生重大影响。 Wang 将美联储的资产负债表政策描述为影响利率和分配信贷的辅助工具。他解释说，美联储可以创造货币并直接向借款人贷款，或者通过购买债务间接贷款，这对美联储作为最后贷款人的职能至关重要。然而，美联储的证券购买仅限于一小部分资产，包括抵押贷款支持证券，实际上是将信贷分配给购房者。他以疫情为例，指出美联储购买了数千亿美元的抵押贷款，即便当时房价正在飙升。这些行动的分配后果可能会持续多年，使房主受益，而牺牲了租房者和那些试图进入房地产市场的人。 他强调监管政策是一种不太明显但仍然具有影响力的工具。更严格的法规对银行施加约束和成本，降低了它们承担风险的意愿，并加强了银行体系。然而，这也限制了信贷供应，尤其影响了中小企业，它们比大型公司更依赖银行融资。此外，监管政策还会影响国债市场和利率水平。他以补充杠杆率为例，说明该法规在疫情期间加强了银行业，但也导致了当时国债市场的功能失调。 总而言之，Wang 认为，美国联邦储备委员会在设定其目标和运用各种工具来实现这些目标方面拥有很大的自由度。这些决定对美国人的生活产生重大影响，使得对美联储活动的监督既至关重要，又 inherently 困难。他赞扬 Lucas 主席和 French 主席成立工作组，以提高货币政策的绩效并促进更大的经济繁荣。

Joseph Wang's testimony before the committee focuses on the Federal Reserve's significant influence on the economy, the tools at its disposal, and the challenges associated with effective oversight due to the Fed's considerable discretion. He emphasizes the importance of understanding these complexities to improve monetary policy's performance and promote economic prosperity. Wang begins by highlighting the inherent ambiguity within the Fed's dual mandate of price stability and full employment. He points out that while Congress mandates price stability, the Fed independently sets the 2% inflation target. Similarly, the Fed defines the level of unemployment considered "full employment." These decisions have far-reaching implications for the population. He argues that these mandates often conflict, requiring the Fed to exercise significant judgment in balancing them and determining appropriate timelines, making oversight difficult. Moving on to the Fed's tools, Wang identifies interest rates and balance sheet policy as primary, with regulatory policy as an additional tool with significant impact. He elaborates on how interest rate policy primarily affects interest-rate-sensitive sectors like housing and autos, disproportionately impacting blue-collar workers and those who rely on financing for major purchases. He notes that the overall economy's sensitivity to interest rates varies over time, with an asset-like, services-focused economy being less responsive. He also mentions the "wealth effect," where higher interest rates lower asset prices, reducing household spending power. He stresses that asset ownership is concentrated, amplifying this impact. An additional consequence of interest rate hikes is the fiscal impact, given the increased public debt and consequent interest payments, which now exceed $1 trillion annually. The Fed's actions, therefore, significantly impact the nation's budget. Wang describes the Fed's balance sheet policy as a secondary tool that influences interest rates and allocates credit. He explains that the Fed can create money and lend directly to borrowers or indirectly through debt purchases, which is essential for its lender-of-last-resort function. However, the Fed's security purchases are limited to a small subset of assets, including mortgage-backed securities, effectively allocating credit to home buyers. He cites the pandemic as a recent example where the Fed purchased hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of mortgages, even as home prices surged. The distributional consequences of these actions are likely to persist for years, benefitting homeowners at the expense of renters and those trying to enter the housing market. He emphasizes regulatory policy as a less visible but still influential tool. Stricter regulations impose constraints and costs on banks, reducing their willingness to take risks and strengthening the banking system. However, this also limits the supply of credit, particularly affecting small and medium-sized businesses, which rely more on banks for financing than larger corporations. Furthermore, regulatory policy impacts the treasury market and interest rate levels. He cites the supplementary leverage ratio as an example of a regulation that strengthened the banking sector during the pandemic but also contributed to the treasury market's dysfunction at that time. In summary, Wang argues that the Federal Reserve possesses significant latitude in setting its goals and employing various tools to achieve them. These decisions have substantial impacts on the lives of Americans, making oversight of the Fed's activities both critically important and inherently difficult. He commends Chairman Lucas and Chairman French for establishing the task force to improve monetary policy's performance and foster greater economic prosperity.