Curbing release of Fed meeting transcripts may improve debate, Warsh says in book The release of transcripts of Federal Reserve rate-setting ​meetings, a cornerstone of its transparency for more than 30 years, undermines the debate needed to set good monetary policy, incoming U.S. central bank chief Kevin Warsh says in an upcoming book, ​remarks that echo his wider desire to overhaul the Fed.

In an extraordinary break from the diplomatic restraint typical of central banks, a dozen leaders of the world’s foremost monetary institutions issued a joint statement in January declaring their “full solidarity” with the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chair, Jerome Powell. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve,” they wrote. The move was intended to shore up the separation of monetary...