ORLANDO, Florida: Whoever said talk is cheap wasn't speaking to a central banker. When it comes to monetary policy, what officials say can often be just as - if not more - important than what they do. As Kevin Warsh looks to shake up the Federal Reserve's communication strategy, it's useful to consider how "Fedspeak" has evolved and what risks the new chair may be taking.
"Monetary policy is 98% talk and 2% action," Ben Bernanke was known to remark during his 2006-2014 tenure at the helm of the Fed. That's a far cry from the stance of his predecessor Alan Greenspan, who famously quipped in 1987: "Since I've become a central banker, I've learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said."
