Fedspeak is a constantly evolving language, and the buzzword this week is “patience.”

That was the refrain sung by a chorus of Fed officials as they pushed back against speculation that the central bank might raise interest rates sooner than expected: The influential leader of the New York Fed, William Dudley, invoked the term Monday in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans followed up with a speech Wednesday titled “Patience Is a Virtue When Normalising Monetary Policy.”

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart used the less succinct synonym “looking for some time to pass” during a news conference on Thursday.

That these officials — often loosely referred to as “doves” — support a continuation of the easy-money policies that have defined the central bank since the Great Recession is no surprise.

It’s also not that unusual that they are all cooing at the same time, especially considering that the headlines after last week’s Fed meeting in Washington were dominated by hawkish officials Richard Fisher, head of the Dallas Fed; Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed; and Jeffrey Lacker, leader of the Richmond, Virginia Fed, all of whom opposed parts of the central bank’s statement.

What is striking is the similarity of the shifts in their arguments. They continue to note concern about the high number of long-term unemployed, the people working part-time but would prefer full-time jobs, the discouraged workers.

But the improving labour market means they also have to acknowledge that the recovery is on firmer footing. The government this morning increased its estimate of economic growth during the second quarter. The doves seem to have settled on this: Go slowly to get it right.

Here’s how Evans put it: “If we were to presume prematurely that the US economy has returned to a more ‘business as usual’ position and reduce monetary accommodation too soon, we could find ourselves in the very uncomfortable position of falling back into the [zero interest rate] environment.”

In other words, the worst-case scenario is that an antsy Fed tries to lift off early — and fails to launch the economy. Not only could that jeopardise the recovery, it would also make the central bank look really, really bad.

Evans hearkened back to 1937, when the central bank raised interest rates too quickly after the Great Depression, helping to send the nation back into recession. He didn’t need to go back that far.

In 2011, the central bank was criticised for pulling the plug on bond purchases too early It restarted the program in 2012 and is expected to end it next month.

Officials see the risks of waiting too long as much more manageable. The Fed grossly misjudged the economy in the run-up to the financial crisis; it doesn’t want to get it wrong on the way out as well.

By arrangement with Washington Post-Bloomberg News Service

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2014