BIS Review 34/2002  3  ‘With the economy on the turn, the MPC has to sift mixed evidence… It would be remarkable if eight intelligent, well-briefed economists could be of one mind.’ But this point is not always readily understood, even by the most astute commentators. In July 1998 the Financial Times suggested: ‘…the MPC bears a closer resemblance to a post-graduate seminar than to a forum for strategic decision making… To put [several] economists in the same room is to invite what one commentator has called paralysis by analysis.’ And in the same month, The Times described the MPC as ‘a committee bursting to the brim with individual opinions’ implying that ‘periods of badly co-ordinated and erratic behaviour are only to be expected’. But it is precisely the exploration of alternative views about what is happening in the British economy, and the discussion of these views by the Committee in a spirit of investigation not advocacy, that is central to the pooling of knowledge through which committees reach decisions that are superior to those taken by individuals. I think that is increasingly understood by commentators, and helps to explain why split votes are now regarded as normal and not a source of great excitement. It is, nevertheless, important that there are no ideological differences among Committee members that would make rational debate difficult, and, in this respect, the Committee has so far been fortunate. A famous 1970s laboratory experiment also showed the value of a frank exchange of views within a 5 committee.
BIS Review 34/2002  9  Table 1  CUMULATIVE MPC VOTING RECORD VOTING STATISTICS  Eddie  Howard  Mervyn  David  Ian  John  Willem  Charles  DeAnne  Alan  Sushil  Stephen  Christopher  Charles  Kate  (SINCE JUNE 1997)  George  Davies  King  Clementi  Plenderleith  Vickers  Buiter  Goodhart  Julius  Budd  Wadhwani  Nickell  Allsopp  Bean  Barker  MEETINGS ATTENDED  61  2  61  58  61  28  36  36  45  18  37  25  25  21  13  61  VOTED UP  9 14 38  2 0 0  17 12 32  8 14 36  9 13 39  10 7 11  17 10 9  12 7 17  2 18 25  5 6 7  3 16 18  3 7 15  0 10 15  0 8 13  0 4 9  9 14 38  61 0  2 0  51 10  54 4  56 5  23 5  19 17  33 3  31 14  14 4  24 13  22 3  21 4  20 1  13 0  -  0 0  0 0  2 8  1 3  2 3  0 5  0 17  0 3  3 11  0 4  1 12  0 3  0 4  0 1  0 0  -  VOTED DOWN VOTED NO-CHANGE VOTED WITH MAJORITY VOTED DIFFERENT TO MAJORITY VOTED NO-CHANGE WHEN CHANGE VOTED CHANGE WHEN NO-CHANGE  10  BIS Review 34/2002  Actual  BIS Review 34/2002  11