1The re-appointment of Professor Silvana Tenreyro
Background on Professor Silvana Tenreyro
3.Professor Silvana Tenreyro joined the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on 5 July 2017. She was reappointed for a further three year term on 27 March 2020.
4.Silvana Tenreyro is Professor in Economics at the London School of Economics. She obtained her MA and PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Before joining the Bank, she was co-Director and Board member of the Review of Economic Studies and Chair of the Women’s Committee of the Royal Economics Society. She is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).
5.In the past, Silvana worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and served as external Monetary Policy Committee member for the Central Bank of Mauritius. She has also been Director of the Macroeconomics Programme at the International Growth Centre, Chair of the Women in Economics Committee of the European Economic Association, Member at Large of the European Economic Association, panel member for economic policy and Associate Editor for JEEA, the Journal of Monetary Economics, Economica, and the Economic Journal. She is a lead academic at the Centre for Macroeconomics and Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance and the Centre for Economic Policy Research.
6.Her main research interests are macroeconomics—particularly monetary policy—international economics and macro-development.
7.Silvana has published numerous papers and spoken widely on monetary policy and macroeconomics.
Our evidence
8.In oral evidence, we questioned Silvana Tenreyro about her reasons for seeking a second term, the outlook for the economy, and the operation of monetary policy in the UK. Topics covered during the session included:
- lessons learnt during her time in office;
- thoughts on the effectiveness of the MPC over her time in office;
- potential drivers of an increase in inflation;
- current inflationary pressures;
- the impact of changes to the Government support package (SEISS and CJRS) on unemployment and skills;
- thoughts on the shape of the recovery and possible interruptions to the recovery;
- the commonality and variability of her thinking on the shape of the recovery, compared with the views of the Chief Economist;
- the interaction of monetary policy and Government borrowing;
- thoughts on nominal GDP targeting and why it has emerged into the debate;
- diversity on the MPC and in economics more widely, and
- views on whether more needs to be done to give women a platform.
Conclusion
9.The Committee is content that Professor Tenreyro has the professional competence and personal independence to remain a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. We wish her every success in her continuing role as a member of the committee.
Published: 22 July 2020