WASHINGTON (CN) — She may have served as treasury secretary, chaired the Federal Reserve and advised the White House on economic policy, but Janet Yellen surely never imagined that she would be a playable character in a video game.
The Obama-era Fed chair is one of several historical heads of the government’s central bank whose tenure players can relive — or reimagine — in Federal Reserve Simulator, a realistic strategy video game released last week.
Federal Reserve Simulator puts users in control of U.S. monetary policy and challenges them to keep the country’s economy afloat in historical scenarios that range from the Roaring Twenties to the Covid-19 pandemic. Players can choose to step into the shoes of a real-life Fed chair, such as Yellen, Ben Bernanke or Jerome Powell, or they can forge their own path through the ups and downs of economic history.
The Fed and monetary policy are niche subjects, even in the realm of punishingly difficult simulation games. But a title focused on the central bank is more topical than ever.
President Donald Trump has for months feuded with Powell over his leadership of the Fed, urging him to slash interest rates in the face of what the president has said is a growing economy and cooling inflation.
The chairman’s resistance has resulted in extraordinary pressure from the White House, including threats of removal, which some experts say risk compromising the central bank’s independence from the executive branch. That dynamic continued last month, after the Justice Department threatened to indict Powell on charges that he lied before Congress about the cost of renovations to Federal Reserve offices.
The outgoing Powell, who began his tenure in 2018 under Trump’s first administration, has faced intense criticism from the White House, Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators alike for his handling of U.S. monetary policy.
But could I manage the economy better than the Fed’s current leadership? I resolved to find out for myself Tuesday afternoon, shelling out a paltry $3 and posting up on the couch to play some Federal Reserve Simulator.
The aim of the game is simple: keep the U.S. economy stable over a 30-year interval. Players tackle policy one fiscal quarter at a time, choosing whether to raise federal interest rates to cool inflation or slash them to stimulate economic growth. The game also gives the player control over other Fed tools, such as the discount rate for banks borrowing from the federal government, as well as more unconventional monetary policies like quantitative easing, the method used by the central bank to help ease fallout from the 2008 financial crisis.
The game ends after the player’s 30 years are up or if they meet any of the loss conditions: hyperinflation, an economic depression, a stock market crash or an unemployment rate over 25% — total economic collapse.
As a Congress reporter with a degree in international relations, I booted up Federal Reserve Simulator already doubting my qualifications to oversee U.S. monetary policy. But, taking up the virtual reins of the country’s central bank, I settled on one goal: to use the power of hindsight to blunt or completely sidestep the 2008 financial crisis and recession.
I did not succeed.
My run began in the first quarter of 1997, with the U.S. economy in a good place. Inflation sat at 2.3%, and unemployment hovered around 4.9%, both well within target ranges. I was presented with options to raise or lower interest rates and to set discounts for banks, as well as a feature allowing me to publicly announce inflation goals. Meeting a stated target, the game informed me, would give my Fed a bump in credibility.
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