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Fortune
Fortune
Eleanor Pringle

The Fed doesn't actually have a 'dual' mandate—there's a third part it rarely mentions, and economists want it to stay that way

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee at the Federal Reserve on September 17, 2025.

If you asked the majority of Americans what the mandate of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was, few would know and even less would care. Ask economists, Wall Street analysts, and even the Fed itself, they would likely recite the “dual mandate”: Price stability and maximum employment.

Indeed, in virtually every one of his speeches this year Fed chairman Jerome Powell has mentioned the dual mandate. Members of the FOMC have written entire speeches on the matter.

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