Quotes from Ben S. Bernanke

My work with him was the basis of my senior thesis,

I wanted to avoid the perception of a "Bernanke put" if at all possible.

But in a financial crisis, the words of government officials carry extraordinary weight.

With these considerations in mind, I agreed with the administration view that breaking up large firms was likely not the best way to solve the too-big-to-fail problem,

In the absence of a decision by the FOMC, I could not make definitive promises. But just by discussing the possibilities at length I would send a signal that we were prepared to act.

European unemployment has been concentrated among the young,

did not at first appreciate how academically disadvantaged I was—especially compared with classmates from elite prep schools like Andover and Exeter and top-flight public schools like Bronx Science.

and I would spend much of my professional career trying to better understand why deep economic depressions occur.

But Bush's proposal to add private accounts to Social Security went nowhere, as did his comprehensive immigration plans.

the stigma associated with borrowing from the Fed.

He must have found the move disorienting, but we never spoke of it.

Jorgenson was invited to testify to Congress on the subject and he took me along.

I noted that at least some of the house price appreciation was the result of fundamental factors such as growing incomes and low mortgage rates.

But the situation at the GSEs was getting more dire by the day. "The

But there can be little doubt he identified and spoke to a deep sense of popular dissatisfaction.

I did not at first appreciate how academically disadvantaged I was—especially compared with classmates from elite prep schools like Andover and Exeter and top-flight public schools like Bronx Science.

I set my sights on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose PhD program in economics was widely viewed as the best in the world.

But I thought a slowdown or modest reversal of house price appreciation was more likely than a sharp decline.

I saw the GSEs as the responsibility of Congress

Dudley was initially skeptical.

but nothing would please me more than being able to get the Fed out of the bailout business.

Trump's victory was not an isolated event but part of a worldwide trend toward populism.

He longed for community and a sense of belonging that had been absent from the austere atmosphere of his own home.

I worried that Jorgenson would be upset if I chose MIT over Harvard