A Foretaste of Warsh as Chair of the Federal Reserve

Kevin Warsh was nominated by President Trump in January 2026 to replace Jerome Powell as Chair of the Federal Reserve. He was confirmed by the US Senate last week and sworn in as the new Fed chair earlier this week. What are some of his views and priorities as he takes office? For a clue, I looked at a just-published collection of essays by economists and central bankers, Finishing the Inflation Job and New Challenges for Monetary Policy, edited by Michael D. Bordo, John H. Cochrane, and John B. Taylor (Hoover Press, 2026, scroll to the bottom of the link and the advance page proofs of book can be downloaded for free in sections). The book described papers and comments from a conference held a year ago in May 2025–that is, well before Warsh was nominated. Here are some of his comments that struck me: On central banks and causes of inflation: Inflation is a choice. The world’s central bankers get to choose the inflation rate. … The central bank establishes the policy rate and steers in…