Black representation and the popular legitimacy of the Federal Reserve

Abstract

The Federal Reserve has started paying closer attention to matters of race over the last decade. The central bank has increasingly emphasized the distinct economic challenges facing racial minorities, and its leadership has become more racially diverse. This paper applies theories of descriptive and substantive representation to understand how these shifts are likely to impact the popular legitimacy of the Federal Reserve. We hypothesize that greater Black descriptive and substantive representation improves Black Americans' confidence in the Federal Reserve. We also anticipate that political ideology moderates how white Americans respond to the increases in Black representation within the Federal Reserve, with white conservatives responding less favorably to these changes than more left-leaning whites. Analysis of data from two original survey experiments with separate samples of 3000 Americans, split evenly between Black and white respondents, supports our expectations. Information about substantive and descriptive representation at the Fed has a strong impact on Black Americans' perceptions of the institution. We also find that these changes at the Fed boost white liberals' views of the Fed but have little impact on white conservatives’ attitudes about the central bank.