INFLUENCE, INTERACTIONS AND HETEROGENEITY: TAKING PERSONALITIES OUT OF MONETARY POLICY DECISION-MAKING

It is widely believed that setting monetary policy through a majority voting committee has major benefits. A monetary policy committee can take personalities out of monetary policy decisions. Critical to understanding these claims is an assessment of how such a committee functions. In this paper we examine interactions and influences between committee members when there is heterogeneity among members. We are able to identify significant interactions and directions of influence among Monetary Policy Committee members at the Bank of England.