Economist.com | Economics focus Until February 1994, the Fed's rate decisions were not announced�let alone discussed publicly in advance�but had to be inferred from its operations in the markets. When, in 1975, this reticence was challenged under the Freedom of Information Act, the Fed spent six years defending its right to secrecy in court. As Marvin Goodfriend, an American economist, has put it, central bankers were anxious to cultivate their �monetary mystique�.