Reports Outline Investment Findings from Michigan State University (Expectations, Gender Bias, and Federal Reserve Talk: Do Americans Trust Women As Central Bankers?): Investment

2026 JUL 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Economics Daily Report -- Researchers detail new data in Investment. According to news reporting out of East Lansing, Michigan, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Political economy models of monetary policy typically ignore gender as a determinant of public expectations about the economy. This is understandable, given the historical rarity of female central bankers globally and the unclear designation of the economic domain as gendered.”

Funders for this research include Bank of England, Max Planck Institute in Cologne.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Michigan State University, “To be effective, central bankers must project expertise and a commitment to fighting inflation. However, those attributes are often male-coded, which may undermine women central bankers. We use a novel experiment to assess gender bias when the US Federal Reserve engages the broad public. The findings suggest significant bias, particularly among men. Messaging associated with women central bankers was less able to influence men’s optimism about the economic future or their trust in the Federal Reserve. Male respondents also displayed a disproportionate inability to recognize female central bankers’ gender.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Contrary to expectation, signaling female central bankers’ competence did not affect men’s bias, although it increased their appeal to other women.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Expectations, Gender Bias, and Federal Reserve Talk: Do Americans Trust Women As Central Bankers? Journal of Politics, 2026. Journal of Politics can be contacted at: Univ Chicago Press, 1427 E 60TH St, Chicago, IL 60637-2954, USA. (Cambridge University Press - www.cambridge.org; Journal of Politics - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JOP)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Cristina Bodea, Michigan State University, Polit Sci, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1086/735501. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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