Ben Bernanke Quotes
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History proves... that a smart central bank can protect the economy and the financial sector from the nastier side effects of a stock market collapse.
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All the Federal Reserve can do is make loans against collateral.
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The basic prescription for preventing deflation is straightforward, at least in principle: Use monetary and fiscal policy as needed to support aggregate spending, in a manner as nearly consistent as possible with full utilization of economic resources and low and stable inflation. In other words, the best way to get out of trouble is not to get into it in the first place.
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The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have great universities. We have entrepreneurs.
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I think that having good data, good statistics-and the United States generally has better macroeconomic statistics than most countries-and having good economists to interpret those data and present the policy alternatives, has a substantially beneficial effect on policymaking in the United States.
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Neighborhoods and communities are complex organisms that will be resilient only if they are healthy along a number of interrelated dimensions, much as a human body cannot be healthy without adequate air, water, rest, and food.
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To minimize market uncertainty and achieve the maximum effect of its policies, the Federal Reserve is committed to providing the public as much information as possible about the uses of its balance sheet, plans regarding future uses of its balance sheet, and the criteria on which the relevant decisions are based.
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Market discipline can only limit moral hazard to the extent that debt and equity holders believe that, in the event of distress, they will bear costs.
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The economic repercussions of a stock market crash depend less on the severity of the crash itself than on the response of economic policymakers, particularly central bankers.
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Under a cold turkey strategy, at each policy meeting the Federal Open Market Committee would make its best guess about where it ultimately wants the funds rate to be and would move to that rate in a single step.
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It's true that the Federal Reserve faces a lot of political pressure and is unpopular in many circles.
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Long-term unemployment is particularly costly to those directly affected, of course. But in addition, because of its negative effects on workers' skills and attachment to the labor force, long-term unemployment may ultimately reduce the productive capacity of our economy.
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I have spoken about deficits, and I think deficits are important because they address broad economic and financial stability. We need to talk about that.
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In any given month, a large number of workers are being hired or are leaving their current jobs, illustrating the dynamism of the U.S. labor market.
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Certainly there is no way to direct the effects of monetary policy at a single class of assets while leaving other financial markets and the broader economy untouched. One might as well try to perform brain surgery with a sledgehammer.
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The downturn following the collapse of Japan's so-called bubble economy of the 1980s was not as severe as the Great Depression.
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The movement toward a holistic approach to community development has been long in the making, but the housing crisis has motivated further progress.
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To support continued healthy growth, vigilance in regard to inflation is essential.
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Deflation can be particularly dangerous when a financial system is shaky, with household and corporate balance sheets in poor shape and banks undercapitalized and heavily burdened with bad loans.
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Economic engineering is about the design and analysis of frameworks for achieving specific economic objectives.
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Clear communication is always important in central banking, but it can be especially important when economic conditions call for further policy stimulus but the policy rate is already at its effective lower bound.
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Inflation is up, driven by energy prices. Underlying core rates remain low, which is encouraging.
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Clearly, it's going to affect the Gulf Coast economy quite a bit.
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There is a deficit; I'd like to see it lowered. But it's up to Congress to decide whether that should be done by higher taxes, lower spending or some combination.