Economy of Words? Not at the Yellen Fed

The Fed under Janet Yellen is demonstrating a high tolerance for inflation – of the verbal variety. Since Yellen took over from Ben Bernanke in February 2014, the nine policy statements issued by the central bank averaged 764 words, including a record-setting 905 worder at the conclusion of her debut meeting in September. The March 2015 statement came in at 584 words, but was up 15 from the previous meeting in January.
The wordy missives delivered so far under Yellen continue a legacy of verbosity pioneered by her predecessor. Under Bernanke, who served from February 2006 through January 2014, Fed policy statements doubled, on average, from Alan Greenspan, who served as chairman before him.
For most of its 100-year history, the Fed and its key policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee, operated under a shroud of secrecy. The FOMC only started publicly disclosing the outcomes of its policy meetings in February 1994 under Greenspan, whose statements were famous for their econometric jargon and code words to signal the direction of interest rate policy. Bernanke preferred plain-English descriptions of the economy and of the Fed’s policy bias. Like Bernanke, Yellen appears to favor going to length to get her message across.
Hover on the charts to read selected statements: