© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve building in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

(Reuters) – The labels “dove” and “hawk” have long been used by central bank watchers to describe the monetary policy leanings of policymakers, with a dove more focused on risks to the labor market and a hawk more focused on the threat of inflation.

The topsy-turvy economic environment of the coronavirus pandemic sidelined those differences, turning U.S. Federal Reserve officials at first universally dovish as they sought to provide massive accommodation for a cratering economy, and then, when inflation surged, into hawks who uniformly backed aggressive interest rate hikes.

Now, as Fed policymakers note an improvement on inflation and some cooling in the labor market, the risks are seen as more balanced and the choices more nuanced.

All 12 regional Fed presidents discuss and debate monetary policy at Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings that are held eight times a year, but only five cast votes at any given meeting, including the New York Fed president and four others who vote for one year at a time on a rotating schedule.

The following chart offers a look at how officials view the outlook for Fed policy and how best to balance their goals of stable prices and full employment. The designations are based on comments and published remarks; for more on the thinking that shaped these hawk-dove designations, click on the photos in this graphic.

Reuters over time has shifted policymaker designations based on fresh comments and developing circumstances – for an accounting of how our counts have changed, please scroll to the bottom of this story.

Dove Dovish Centrist Hawkish Hawk

  Raphael Jerome Loretta Michelle

Bostic, Powell, Fed Mester, Bowman,

Atlanta Chair, Cleveland Governor,

Fed permanent Fed permanent

President, voter: “Decl President voter:”Whi

2024 aring , 2024 le the

voter: “If victory voter: current

we would be “March is stance of

continue premature probably monetary

to see a … But of too early policy

further course the in my appears to

accumulati question is estimatio be

on of when will it n for a sufficient

downside become rate ly

surprises appropriate decline.” restrictiv

in the to begin Jan. 11, e … I

data it’s dialing 2024 remain

possible back?” Dec. willing to

for me to 13, 2023 raise the

get federal

comfortabl funds rate

e to further at

advocate a future

normalizat meeting.”

ion sooner Jan. 8,

than the 2024

third

quarter.

But the

evidence

would need

to be

convincing

.” Jan.

18, 2024

  Patrick John Thomas  

Harker, Williams, Barkin,

Philadelph New York Fed Richmond

ia Fed President, Fed

President, permanent President

2026 voter: “It , 2024

voter: will only be voter: “G

“It’s appropriate etting

important to dial back inflation

that we the degree under

start to of policy control

move rates restraint is

down … when we are criticall

we don’t confident y

have to do that important

it too inflation is .” Jan.

fast, moving 5, 2024

we’re not toward 2% on

going to a sustained

do it basis.” Jan.

right 10, 2024

away, it’s

going to

take some

time.”

Dec. 20,

2023

    Philip Lorie  

Jefferson, Logan,

Vice Chair: Dallas

“We are in a Fed

sensitive President

period of , 2026

risk voter:

management, “We

where we shouldn’t

have to take the

balance the possibili

risk of not ty of

having another

tightened rate

enough, increase

against the off the

risk of table

policy being just

too yet.”

restrictive. Jan. 6,

” Oct. 9, 2024

2023

    Christopher Neel  

Waller, Kashkari,

Governor, Minneapol

permanent is Fed

voter: “The President

key thing is , 2026

the economy voter:

is doing “When

well. It is activity

giving us continues

the to run

flexibility this hot,

to move that

carefully makes me

and question

methodically if policy

.” Jan. 16, is as

2024 tight as

we assume

it

currently

is.” Nov.

7, 2023

    Michael  

Barr, Vice

Chair of

Supervision,

permanent

voter: The

Fed is “at

or near the

peak” of

interest

rates.” Nov.

17, 2023

    Lisa Cook,    

Governor,

permanent

voter: “I

see risks as

two-sided,

requiring us

to balance

the risk of

not

tightening

enough

against the

risk of

tightening

too much.”

Nov. 16,

2023

    Mary Daly,    

San

Francisco

Fed

President,

2024

voter: “It

takes

patience. It

takes

gradualism.”

Jan. 19,

2024

    Austan    

Goolsbee,

Chicago Fed

President,

2025

voter: “If

we continue

to make

surprising

progress,

faster than

was

forecast, on

inflation,

then we have

to take that

into account

in

determining

the level of

restrictiven

ess … but

we don’t

want to

commit

ourselves

before the

job is

done.” Jan.

19, 2024

    Susan    

Collins,

Boston Fed

President,

2025 voter:

The Fed

should be

“patient and

resolute,

and I

wouldn’t

take

additional

firming off

the table.”

Nov. 17,

2023

Note: Fed policymakers began raising interest rates in March 2022 to bring down high inflation. Their most recent policy rate hike, to a range of 5.25%-5.50%, occurred last July. Projections released on Dec. 13 showed no policymakers believe rates should go any higher this year, and a majority see them dropping by at least 75 basis points. Three policymakers – Fed Board Governor Adriana Kugler, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, and Alberto Musalem, who starts as the St. Louis Fed’s president on April 2 – have not made any substantive policy remarks and are not included in the dove-hawk matrix.

Below is a Reuters count of policymakers in each category, heading into recent Fed meetings.

FOMC Date Dove Dovish Centrist Hawkish Hawk

Jan ’24 0 2 9 4 1

Dec ’23 0 2 9 4 1

Oct/Nov ’23 0 2 7 5 2

Sept ’23 0 4 3 6 3

June ’23 0 3 3 8 3

March ’23 0 2 3 10 2

Dec ’22 0 4 1 12 2