Fine-Tuning the Signal: Image and Identity at the Federal Reserve

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article develops a conceptual model of fine-tuning by elite policymakers. Fine-tuning is a set of strategic practices employed by policy elites to construct the signals sent to stakeholders outside the organization. Such signals are used to influence immediate stakeholder behavior as well as maintain longer-term agency reputation. The clarity of the signal varies strategically from transparency to opacity according to political and economic circumstances. We identify two fine-tuning practices, expectation modulation and credibility filtering, which are part of the toolkit of the signalers. These practices are grounded in an agency's sense of its image and identity. Using verbatim transcripts of meetings at the Federal Reserve, this article explores the fine-tuning practices that are employed by policymakers to store up trust, anticipate threats, and rationalize failure to stakeholders.