(Bloomberg) -- Alan Greenspan trusted his instincts. Ben Bernanke trusts the MAQS.
For the past several days, the MAQS -- a group of analysts in the Federal Reserve's Macroeconomic and Quantitative Studies unit -- have run a series of what-if scenarios on the U.S. economy that will play a critical role in next week's interest- rate decision.
The simulations will supplement the forecast handed to policy makers at the start of their Sept. 18 meeting and may determine the size of the rate cut almost universally predicted by Wall Street economists.
Bernanke has championed the team's work since becoming Fed chairman in 2006 because he wants to sift through models, projections and anecdotes before coming to conclusions. His approach contrasts with that of predecessor Alan Greenspan, who relied more on his own reading of conditions -- and as a result probably would have cut rates to insure against a recession long before the Sept. 18 Federal Open Market Committee gathering.
``Greenspan emphasized that, in response to a low- probability....
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