Warsh names Wall Street, academic heavyweights to five Fed task forces

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s five task forces reviewing the central bank’s policy framework now include a Productivity and Jobs panel featuring Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, Stanford economist Charles I. Jones and Microsoft executive Asha Sharma. The Federal Reserve announced the appointment on July 9, saying the group will study how general-purpose technologies including artificial intelligence affect economic output and employment, while operating independently with staff support and providing research and feedback to the Federal Open Market Committee. The broader review, first announced after the Fed’s June meeting, also covers communications, balance-sheet policy, economic data and inflation frameworks. Warsh said the panels are intended to test whether the Fed can improve its analytical tools and policy methods, with early findings expected in the fall. The panel arrives as Fed officials debate whether AI will ultimately ease inflation through productivity gains or add near-term price pressure through heavy spending on chips, electricity and data centers. Andreessen’s role does not carry a direct crypto mandate, but any conclusions that influence interest-rate thinking could matter for Bitcoin and other risk assets through their impact on liquidity and borrowing costs.