New Mix at the Fed

The seven-member Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which sets interest rate policy along with the heads of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, gets extra scrutiny in election years, particularly when economic growth is flagging, as it is now. President Clinton on Thursday announced the reappointment of Alan Greenspan as Fed chairman and nominated two new governors--Alice M. Rivlin and Laurence H. Meyer--to fill vacant seats. The jobs pay $123,100 a year. Clinton apparently hopes the revamped board will be more willing to cut interest rates and help pump up the economy before the November election, but some experts think the current governors have less policymaking influence than some of the regional bank presidents. Here is how Fed watchers see the governors and nominees in terms of their views on the trade-off between fighting inflation and cutting interest rates:

Alan Greenspan, 69, originally a Reagan appointee, is one of the ablest Fed chiefs when it comes to orchestrating consensus. “He gets you to do what he wants, but makes you think it was your idea,” one observer says. Of the current governors, he is perhaps considered the most hawkish on inflation.

Edward W. Kelley Jr., 64, another Reagan appointee, ran a Houston investment firm before joining the Fed. He is described as a pragmatist without a strong background in monetary policy.

Lawrence B. Lindsey, 41, a former Harvard economics professor and Bush appointee, is seen as a centrist who is “more on the dovish side” on inflation than Greenspan.

Laurence H. Meyer, 51, runs a respected economics consulting firm in St. Louis. Although not considered dogmatic, he is seen as somewhat more likely than Greenspan to push for lower interest rates.

Susan M. Phillips, 51, a former finance professor and administrator at the University of Iowa, is a Bush appointee. A centrist, she votes with Greenspan.

Alice M. Rivlin, 64, is a longtime Washington insider who runs the federal Office of Management and Budget. She is thought to share some of the dovish views on inflation and “better political antennae” than Alan Blinder, whom she would replace.

Janet L. Yellen, 49, another Clinton appointee and a former UC Berkeley economist, is perhaps the most dovish on inflation of the current governors. She is one of the few who has formally opposed Greenspan in a policy vote on interest rates.