From morningstar.com

Part of what drives Beth Hammack's relentless focus on inflation are the conversations she's had with people who live near her office. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Hammack is part of the U.S. central-banking system, which has 12 regional banks across the country that help it gather the economic data upon which monetary-policy decisions are based. Some of the data Hammack collects are what's known in the economics trade as soft data - anecdotes, stories, opinions and sentiment. Hammack's region is made up of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and parts of West Virginia, and when she ... (full story)