Jun 5, 2008
The Very Model of a Modern Central Banker
USA Today carries a story about Randall S. Kroszner, who finds it hard to shed his reputation as a free market economist."Kroszner hasn't assuaged Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has refused to schedule a vote on his nomination to a full 14-year Fed term. Kroszner, initially approved to fill out a partial term that expired Jan. 31, can remain at the Fed until a successor is named."
Kroszner is the chairman of the Fed's internal committee on consumer affairs. For some time he has been busy designing new regulations for mortgage lenders and credit card issuers."Kroszner, who earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics-economics at Brown and a doctorate at Harvard, says he's doing what he always has: analyzing facts to make the best decision." He defends his inductive methodology thus,"Being a very much empirically oriented economist,...I'm really trying to get into the data and see what the data say. That's how I come to my approach and how I've always come to my conclusions."
Larry White, professor of economic history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and noted scholar of free banking, comments drily:"I would have expected [Kroszner] to be helping to repeal some of the regulations that were passed in a hurry during the New Deal....I guess that hasn't happened."
Kroszner is the chairman of the Fed's internal committee on consumer affairs. For some time he has been busy designing new regulations for mortgage lenders and credit card issuers."Kroszner, who earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics-economics at Brown and a doctorate at Harvard, says he's doing what he always has: analyzing facts to make the best decision." He defends his inductive methodology thus,"Being a very much empirically oriented economist,...I'm really trying to get into the data and see what the data say. That's how I come to my approach and how I've always come to my conclusions."
Larry White, professor of economic history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and noted scholar of free banking, comments drily:"I would have expected [Kroszner] to be helping to repeal some of the regulations that were passed in a hurry during the New Deal....I guess that hasn't happened."