Logan Says Fed Should Consider Replacing Its Benchmark Rate

Lorie Logan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has proposed replacing the central bank’s benchmark federal funds rate — the primary tool the central bank has used to steer the nation’s economy since the 1980s — with a much more widely used market bellwether.

In a speech delivered Thursday and in an accompanying essay, Logan unexpectedly rekindled a debate that market participants say is long overdue.

“We have been long advocating for the Fed to shift the policy target away from fed funds to repo and this is a step in the ...