Washington announced the heads of five major working groups to pave the way for reforming the Federal Reserve.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced the leaders of five working groups. These working groups will examine the Fed's practices in key policy areas and may push for wide-ranging reforms. The leaders of the working groups include prominent scholars, former central bank officials, and corporate executives. The five working groups will respectively study communication mechanisms, balance sheets, the Fed's "use and reliance on existing data sources", productivity and employment, and the central bank's "inflation framework". "Each working group will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools, and policy frameworks can be improved," Warsh said in a statement on Thursday. "The goal is clear: to ensure that the Fed is in the best position at this critical time to achieve our goals." Warsh announced the establishment of these working groups in June and expects each group to share its conclusions before the end of the year, with external experts receiving support from Fed staff. Warsh said on Thursday that the leaders of these working groups are "top talents from various fields". Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, Washington University scholar Peter Fisher, and former Brazil Central Bank Governor Arminio Fraga will co-lead the communication mechanism working group. Harvard University's Karen Dynan, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, and Harvard University economics professor Jeremy Stein will co-lead the balance sheet working group. Harvard University's Raj Chetty, former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, and University of Chicago's Kevin Murphy will co-lead the data working group. Marc Andreessen from Andreessen Horowitz, Charles I. Jones from Stanford University, and Asha Sharma, Executive Vice President and CEO of Xbox at Microsoft, will lead the productivity and employment working group. Harvard University's Greg Mankiw, New York University's Thomas Sargent, and former economic adviser at the Bank for International Settlements William White will lead the inflation framework working group.