Lisa D Cook: The economic outlook and US productivity

Speech by Ms Lisa D Cook, Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit, Michigan, 30 November 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be back in Michigan, although I wish I had been here to participate in the Turkey Trot last week, which is an annual tradition for my family and me. It is especially a treat to be back in Detroit, with its rich history of music, art, architecture, and industrial innovation-which I will address today. I am also delighted to see some familiar faces.

Today, I would like to discuss the economic outlook and focus on one particularly important aspect of the economy: productivity. I have spent much of my career researching the ways in which American ingenuity and invention can be wellsprings of economic growth. I am here, therefore, to address the impressive innovation happening in the auto industry and what it tells us about future prospects for productivity in the U.S. manufacturing sector and in the economy more generally. I can think of no better place to do that than in the Motor City.

Outlook
To set the stage, I will first turn to the U.S. economy as a whole, where inflation remains much too high. As a result, the Federal Reserve must continue to focus on bringing inflation back down to our 2 percent target.