Quotes by Ben Bernanke - Page 5

The stress on the financial system in the fall of 2007 was significant, but not so significant as to threaten the overall stability of the U.S. economy, although it did lead to the beginning of a recession at the end of 2007.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Financial System
Significant
Stability
Overall
Recession
Threaten
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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.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Adequate
Dimensions
Human Body
Organisms
Resilient
Communities
Complex
Interrelated
Neighborhoods
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Consumers going through foreclosure typically will see their credit scores drop, raising longer-term questions about their ability to rebound financially and perhaps pursue a more sustainable home purchase at some later point.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Credit
Rebound
Sustainable
Drop
Financially
Perhaps
Purchase
Scores
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The tax code is very inefficient. Both the personal tax code and the corporate tax code. By closing loopholes and lowering rates, you could increase the efficiency of the tax code and create more incentives for people to invest.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Closing
Code
Corporate
Incentives
Loopholes
Tax
Invest
Inefficient
Lowering
Rates
Tax Code
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The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand.. a drop in spending so severe that producers must cut prices on an ongoing basis in order to find buyers.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Cutting
Ongoing
Order
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Because financially capable consumers ultimately contribute to a stable economic and financial system as well as improve their own financial situations, it's clear that the Federal Reserve has a significant stake in financial education.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Capable
Clear
Economic
Federal Reserve
Financial
Financial System
Significant
Stable
Contribute
Federal
Improve
Reserve
Situations
System
Ultimately
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The risk exists that, with aggregate demand exhibiting considerable momentum, output could overshoot its sustainable path, leading ultimately in the absence of countervailing monetary policy action to further upward pressure on inflation.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Demand
Path
Risk
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Monetary policy has less room to maneuver when interest rates are close to zero, while expansionary fiscal policy is likely both more effective and less costly in terms of increased debt burden when interest rates are pinned at low levels.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Zero
Burden
Levels
Monetary
Monetary Policy
Policy
Costly
Effective
Fiscal
Increased
Interest Rates
Likely
Low
Maneuver
Pinned
Rates
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The Mexican debt crisis, Latin American debt crisis, the crises of the 1990s, the Wall Street stock market crash, and other events should have reminded us, and did remind us, that financial instability remains a concern, remains a problem.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Concern
Crash
Debt
Instability
Latin
Latin American
Market Crash
Mexican
Remains
Crises
Stock
Stock Market
Wall Street
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Economic management involves the operation of economic frameworks in real time - for example, in the private sector, the management of complex financial institutions or, in the public sector, the day-to-day supervision of those institutions.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Day To Day
Management
Private Sector
Public Sector
Supervision
For Example
Involves
Operation
Real Time
Sector
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Stronger regulation and supervision aimed at problems with underwriting practices and lenders' risk management would have been a more effective and surgical approach to constraining the housing bubble than a general increase in interest rates.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Housing
Increase
Management
Regulation
Risk Management
Stronger
Supervision
Bubble
Effective
Interest Rates
Practices
Rates
Surgical
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Smart financial planning - such as budgeting, saving for emergencies, and preparing for retirement - can help households enjoy better lives while weathering financial shocks. Financial education can play a key role in getting to these outcomes.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Education
Budgeting
Emergencies
Enjoy
Financial
Outcomes
Planning
Preparing
Retirement
Saving
Smart
Getting
Help
Households
Role
Shocks
While
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If I am confirmed, I am confident that my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee and I will maintain the focus on long-term price stability as monetary policy's greatest contribution to general economic prosperity and maximum employment.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Colleagues
Contribution
Economic Prosperity
Employment
Focus
Long
Long Term
Maximum
Monetary
Prosperity
Stability
Confident
Committee
Federal
Maintain
Open Market
Price
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The Fed needs an approach that consolidates the gains of the Greenspan years and ensures that those successful policies will continue - even if future Fed chairmen are less skillful or less committed to price stability than Mr. Greenspan has been.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Approach
Committed
Gains
Skillful
Stability
Mr
Fed
Policies
Price
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The biggest downside of my current job is that I have to wear a suit to work. Wearing uncomfortable clothes on purpose is an example of what former Princeton hockey player and Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence taught economists to call 'signaling.'
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Former
Hockey
Hockey Player
Nobel
Nobel Prize
Princeton
Uncomfortable
Current
Michael
Downside
Economists
Suit
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Our mission, as set forth by the Congress is a critical one: to preserve price stability, to foster maximum sustainable growth in output and employment, and to promote a stable and efficient financial system that serves all Americans well and fairly.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Congress
Critical
Efficient
Employment
Financial
Financial System
Growth
Maximum
Output
Stability
Fairly
All Americans
Sustainable
Forth
Mission
Preserve
Promote
Serve
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The actions taken by central banks and other authorities to stabilize a panic in the short run can work against stability in the long run if investors and firms infer from those actions that they will never bear the full consequences of excessive risk-taking.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Investors
Panic
Risk-taking
Stability
Actions
Work Long Will
Authorities
Banks
Bear
Central
Excessive
Infer
Long Run
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Home purchases that are very highly leveraged or unaffordable subject the borrower and lender to a great deal of risk. Moreover, even in a strong economy, unforeseen life events and risks in local real estate markets make highly leveraged borrowers vulnerable.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Economy
Risk
Strong
Strong Economy
Unforeseen
Vulnerable
Life Home Great
Borrower
Deal
Estate
Great Deal
Highly
Lender
Local
Markets
Moreover
Purchases
Real Estate
Subject
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I came home from school one day, and there was a phone call for me. And I picked up the phone. They said, 'This is the Harvard Admissions Department. We'd like to let you know that you're accepted in the freshman class.' And I said, 'Come on, who is this really?'
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Accepted
Admission
Department
Freshman
Harvard
Home Me Day
Freshman Class
Phone Call
Picked
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The public in many countries is understandably concerned by the commitment of substantial government resources to aid the financial industry when other industries receive little or no assistance. This disparate treatment, unappealing as it is, appears unavoidable.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Assistance
Commitment
Treatment
Aid
Appears
Disparate
Industries
Receive
Substantial
Unavoidable
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The Depression was an incredibly dramatic episode - an era of stock-market crashes, breadlines, bank runs and wild currency speculation, with the storm clouds of war gathering ominously in the background... For my money, few periods are so replete with human interest.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Depression
Clouds
Currency
Dramatic
Gathering
Periods
Speculation
Storm
Background
Bank
Wild
Crashes
Episode
Incredibly
Replete
Runs
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Many foreclosed homes are neglected or abandoned, as legal proceedings or other factors delay their resale. Deteriorating or vacant properties can, in turn, directly affect the quality of life in a neighborhood, for example, by leading to increases in vandalism or crime.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Legal
Abandoned
Delay
Deteriorating
Factors
Neglected
Quality Of Life
Vacant
Vandalism
Affect
Directly
For Example
Homes
Increases
Leading
Properties
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Long term, I have a lot of confidence in the United States. We have an excellent record in terms of innovation. We have great universities that are involved in technological change and progress. We have an entrepreneurial culture, much more than almost any other country.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Entrepreneurial
Innovation
Term
Any Other Country
Universities
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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.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Attachment
Capacity
Effects
Labor
Long Term
Skills
Unemployment
Workers
Addition
Costly
Directly
Particularly
Reduce
Ultimately
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Because a person has to be either working or looking for work to be counted as part of the labor force, an increase in the number of people too discouraged to continue their search for work would reduce the unemployment rate, all else being equal - but not for a positive reason.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Discouraged
Labor
Rate
Unemployment
Unemployment Rate
Counted
Reduce
Search
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I think most of us would agree that people who have, say, little formal schooling but labor honestly and diligently to help feed, clothe, and educate their families are deserving of greater respect - and help, if necessary - than many people who are superficially more successful.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Agree
Deserving
Educate
Formal
Greater
Honestly
Labor
Schooling
Successful
Feed
Diligently
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To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Defense
Entitlement
Social
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Following an extended boom in housing, the demand for homes began to weaken in mid-2005. By the middle of 2006, sales of both new and existing homes had fallen about 15 percent below their peak levels. Homebuilders responded to the fall in demand by sharply curtailing construction.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Construction
Demand
Fall
Following
Housing
Levels
Middle
Began
Below
Boom
Existing
Extended
Homes
Peak
Sales
Sharply
Weaken
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We’ve never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis. So, what I think what is more likely is that house prices will slow, maybe stabilize, might slow consumption spending a bit. I don’t think it’s going to drive the economy too far from its full employment path, though.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Employment
House
Thinking
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I think one of the lessons of the Depression - and this is something that Franklin Roosevelt demonstrated - was that when orthodoxy fails, then you need to try new things. And he was very willing to try unorthodox approaches when the orthodox approach had shown that it was not adequate.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Depression
Adequate
Approach
Lessons
New Things
Orthodox
Orthodoxy
Thinking
Trying
Unorthodox
Fails
Franklin Roosevelt
Roosevelt
Shown
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Among other objectives, liquidity guidelines must take into account the risks that inadequate liquidity planning by major financial firms pose for the broader financial system, and they must ensure that these firms do not become excessively reliant on liquidity support from the central bank.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Excess
Financial System
Guidelines
Inadequate
Liquidity
Objectives
Planning
Account
Bank
Broader
Central
Central Bank
Ensure
Pose
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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.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Country
Data
Thinking
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If current trends continue, the typical U.S. worker will be considerably more productive several decades from now. Thus, one might argue that letting future generations bear the burden of population aging is appropriate, as they will likely be richer than we are even taking that burden into account.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Generations
Population
Typical
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There are a number of institutions globally where the Federal Reserve typically leads the U.S. effort to work with financial regulators from other countries, and we try to, to the extent possible, establish international standards for how - the amount of capital a bank should hold, for example, or how much.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Federal Reserve
Other Countries
Standards
Bank
Capital
Establish
Extent
Federal
For Example
Globally
Leads
Reserve
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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.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Committed
Criteria
Federal Reserve
Maximum
Plans
Providing
Relevant
Uncertainty
Minimize
Policies
Regarding
Reserve
Sheet
Uses
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In September 2008, the two largest housing mortgage companies called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were government-sponsored enterprises, which hold hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgages, because of the losses they took on the mortgages, they essentially became insolvent, and the government had to take them over.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Billions
Dollars
Housing
Mortgage
September
Became
Billions Of Dollars
Companies
Enterprises
Essentially
Hold
Hundreds
Largest
Losses
Took
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As you know, in the latter part of 2008 and early 2009, the Federal Reserve took extraordinary steps to provide liquidity and support credit market functioning, including the establishment of a number of emergency lending facilities and the creation or extension of currency swap agreements with 14 central banks around the world.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Creation
Credit
Currency
Establishment
Federal Reserve
Latter
Lending
Liquidity
Steps
Agreements
Banks
Central
Emergency
Extension
Facilities
Federal
Reserve
Swap
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Weaker currencies abroad mean a strong dollar, and a stronger dollar, together with a weak global environment, is a drag on the U.S. economy. So it's important, as it affects overall levels of production and employment in the U.S. There are many domestic industries doing well in the United States, notwithstanding a strong dollar.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Important
Mean
Strong
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Over the years, the U.S. economy has shown a remarkable ability to absorb shocks of all kinds, to recover, and to continue to grow. Flexible and efficient markets for labor and capital, an entrepreneurial tradition, and a general willingness to tolerate and even embrace technological and economic change all contribute to this resiliency.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Change
Smile
Technology
Entrepreneur
Years
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A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate - these are the folks who reap the largest rewards.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Encouragement
Opportunity
Educational
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The basic prescription for preventing deflation is therefore 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.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Business
Principles
Support
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Inflation is certainly low and stable and, measured in unemployment and labour-market slack, the economy has made a lot of progress. The pace of growth is disappointingly slow, mostly because productivity growth has been very slow, which is not really something amenable to monetary policy. It comes from changes in technology, changes in worker skills and a variety of other things, but not monetary policy, in particular.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Technology
Growth
Progress
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Given the central role of effective, firmwide risk management in maintaining strong financial institutions, it is clear that supervisors must redouble their efforts to help organizations improve their risk-management practices...We are also considering the need for additional or revised supervisory guidance regarding various aspects of risk management, including further emphasis on the need for an enterprise-wide perspective when assessing risk.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Organization
Practice
Strong
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There's no denying that a collapse in stock prices today would pose serious macroeconomic challenges for the United States. Consumer spending would slow, and the U.S. economy would become less of a magnet for foreign investors. Economic growth, which in any case has recently been at unsustainable levels, would decline somewhat. History proves, however, that a smart central bank can protect the economy and the financial sector from the nastier side effects of a stock market collapse.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Challenges
Growth
Smart
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Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services.
Ben Bernanke / Economist
Government
Technology
Numbers
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Ben Bernanke Quotes - Page 5

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