SNB working paper tracks a century of Federal Reserve speeches with new dataset
The Swiss National Bank published a working paper by Thomas Lustenberger, Enzo Rossi and Anna Zeitz that draws on a novel dataset of more than 10,000 Federal Reserve speeches from 1914 to 2024 to identify stylized facts .
At a glance
- The SNB working paper uses a new dataset of more than 10,000 Fed speeches spanning 1914 to 2024.
- The volume of Fed speeches has declined over the past decade while the composition of communication has stayed consistent for forty years.
- Federal Reserve Bank presidents account for the majority of the Fed's public speaking engagements.
VERDICT — CONFIRMED
The Swiss National Bank published a working paper by Thomas Lustenberger, Enzo Rossi and Anna Zeitz that draws on a novel dataset of more than 10,000 Federal Reserve speeches from 1914 to 2024 to identify stylized facts about central bank communication. According to the paper's abstract, the overall volume of speeches has declined over the past decade, yet the composition of Fed communication has remained notably consistent for forty years, with Federal Reserve Bank presidents accounting for the majority of public engagements. The authors find that variation in communicative participation is driven primarily by speaker-specific factors such as professional background and gender rather than the period in which speeches were delivered.
Key facts on file
- The SNB working paper uses a new dataset of more than 10,000 Fed speeches spanning 1914 to 2024.
- The volume of Fed speeches has declined over the past decade while the composition of communication has stayed consistent for forty years.
- Federal Reserve Bank presidents account for the majority of the Fed's public speaking engagements.
