Regional Influences on FOMC Voting Patterns

This paper looks at the monetary policy decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve and asks whether observed voting patterns have been driven entirely by national concerns, or whether regional factors have also played a role. We find that Fed policymakers take into account developments in regional unemployment when casting votes on monetary policy. These results are robust to different specifications of the voting equation. This research is relevant for the Fed, and it may also be relevant for Europe's fledgling central bank in Frankfurt in light of regional differences within the euro area.