As a consequence, I have favored a single mandate for the Fed – price stability – to increase the clarity of the objective and make it easier to hold the Fed accountable. Nevertheless, given a mandate, what central bank independence means is that Congress has left the decisions of how best to achieve this mandate to Fed policymakers.
Why did Congress design the Fed this way? There are two very important reasons. First, monetary policy affects the economy with sometimes long and variable lags, but elected politicians, and even the public, often make decisions with the next month, next quarter, or the next election in mind.