Something to observe from Wednesday’s FOMC meeting: To control interest rates in the Fed’s post-2008 ample reserves operating framework, the Fed has several different administrative rates it sets to control overnight borrowing rates. Perhaps the most important of these is the interest rate on reserve balances. Notably, IOR is set by the Fed’s Board of Governors and not by the FOMC. This distinction has been flagged in the past by legal eagles worried about the seemingly remote prospect that—while the Board always without question has always adjusted IOR to reflect what the FOMC does with the fed-funds rate (which the FOMC controls)—a majority of the 7-person board might one day disagree with the decision of the 12-member FOMC and use this governance loophole to undercut an FOMC decision. Again, this hasn’t ever been an issue because governors dissents have been very infrequent. Since Congress gave the Fed the ability to pay IOR in 2008, no governor had dissented at an FOMC meeting until last year. In July, when governors Chris Waller and Miki Bowman dissented to cut rates, the vote to maintain IOR at the end of the meeting was unanimous. But it would appear that the decision to lower IOR by 25 basis points on Wednesday was not unanimous, meaning that someone either abstained from the vote or voted to do something else. Governor Stephen Miran dissented against the FOMC decision in favor of a 50 basis point cut. He joined the Fed this week.(Nick Timiraos)