Quotes from Ben Bernanke

Economic science concerns itself primarily with theoretical and empirical generalizations about the behavior of individuals, institutions, markets, and national economies. Most academic research falls in this category.

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have - great universities. We have entrepreneurs.

After a long period in which the desired direction for inflation was always downward, the industrialized world's central banks must today try to avoid major changes in the inflation rate in either direction.

I am particularly pleased to see that the Bendheim Center for Finance is thriving.

Of course, economic forecasts must be revised when new information arrives and are thus necessarily provisional.

To be sure, the provision of liquidity alone can by no means solve the problems of credit risk and credit losses; but it can reduce liquidity premiums, help restore the confidence of investors, and thus promote stability.

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.

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.

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.

No economy can succeed without a high-quality workforce, particularly in an age of globalization and technical change.

In the future, my communications with the public and with the markets will be entirely through regular and formal channels.

It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.

I would argue that no financial instrument counted as regulatory capital should be allowed to receive any protection from losses.

Since World War II, inflation - the apparently inexorable rise in the prices of goods and services - has been the bane of central bankers.

If the fiscal cliff occurs, I don't think the Federal Reserve has the tools to offset that event.

The Federal Reserve, like other central banks, wields powerful tools; democratic accountability requires that the public be able to see how and for what purposes those tools are being used.

Banks will have to win the confidence of their customers through fair dealing, making good loans, and remaining financially healthy.

A little humility never hurts.

The benefit of appointing a hawkish central banker is the increased inflation-fighting credibility that such an appointment brings.

Many savers are also homeowners; indeed, a family's home may be its most important financial asset. Many savers are working, or would like to be.

The Fed's independence is critical.

I come from Main Street, from a small town that's really depressed.

In a slow-growing world that is short on aggregate demand, Germany's trade surplus is a problem.

Speaking as somebody who has been happily married for 35 years, I can't imagine any choice more consequential for a lifelong journey than the choice of a traveling companion.