Shadow Open Market Committee

The Shadow Open Market Committee (SOMC) was founded by Karl Brunner of the University of Rochester and  Allan Meltzer of Carnegie-Mellon University. It held its first semi-annual meeting on September 14, 1973. The original objective was to evaluate the policy choices and actions of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee. For the past 27 years the SOMC has met on a regular basis to discuss economic policy. Over the years the committee has broadened its scope to cover a wide range of macroeconomic policy issues ranging from monetary and fiscal policy to issues pertaining to international trade and tax policy. The Committee's deliberations are intended to improve policy discussions among policy makers, journalists and the general public with the hope that wiser policy decisions will result.

The committee meets semi-annually. At each meeting a number of papers are prepared by committee members on a variety of macroeconomic and public policy topics. Based on these papers and the committee's deliberations, a policy statement is prepared that summarizes the most important policy recommendations of the committee.

The SOMC is an independent organization whose members are drawn from academic institutions and private organizations. The views and opinions expressed by the committee are its own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations with which the members are affiliated or the sponsoring organizations.