External Review of the Economic Research Department

At the request of Chicago Fed President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Moskow, the Research Department's research activities and contributions to monetary policy were reviewed by an outside panel. Such reviews are commonplace in universities and, increasingly, central banks.

The panel was composed of Andrew Abel, Wharton School of Business; Kathryn Shaw, Stanford Business School; and Jeremy Stein, Harvard University. Panel members were provided with written materials and visited the Department for two days. They delivered their report in November 2005.

The report states that the Department "has developed into one of the top Research Departments in the Federal Reserve System" and identifies the key factors behind this success. It reviews each of the six research teams in detail, and identifies areas of potential improvement. The Bank has acted on these recommendations in the areas of recruitment and organizational structure, and most notably through the creation of a new Financial Markets Group, led by Senior Vice President David Marshall.