By Samantha Sharf
President Barack Obama reportedlyplans to nominate Stanley Fischer to be the next vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. The former Bank of Israel Chief would take over forJanet Yellen when she leaves the post to become Fed chairwoman.
Fischer, a dual-citizen of the U.S. and Israel, served as the head of Israel’s central bank for eight-years before stepping down on June 30 of this year. Later this summer, the economist sung the Fed’s praises on the Charlie Rose Show. “The United States managed — although it is hard for Americans to believe — managed the crisis better than the other advanced economies,” said Fischer.
“Many of the things that were reviled – the TARP, things like that — actually were successful. The United States got the banking system back into shape quicker than anyone else.” While he noted the process was “inelegant” and led to a huge budget deficit, he called the progress of the last two years impressive and advised continuing to take it slow.
During his tenure the Bank of Israel began investing foreign currency reserves in U.S. equities. Described as a diversification and risk modification move the initial investment included between 1,500 and 2,000 shares including stocks like Apple.
Upon his departure from Israel he told the Jerusalem Post, “There are things [Israel] can’t do,” he said. “We’re not the United States. We’re not Sweden. We have less money, we must understand that.” He also noted while he will miss the people of Israel, he will not miss the yelling.
Prior to his time at the Bank of Israel, Fischer held the number two spot at the International Monetary Fund, holding that post from 1994 to 2001. The 70-year-old has also served as head of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology’s economics department. At MIT he taught outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as well as Mario Draghiwho heads the European Central Bank and Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers (once believed to be Obama’s pick to succeed Bernanke). Fischer also completed a brief stint at the World Bank.
When Rose asked about Yellen versus Summers for the top Fed spot, Fischer called Summers “very very good.” Of his likely future boss, he said, “Janet is a very safe pair of hands; and you want the Fed to be in a safe pair of hands.” He did not respond to speculation that he himself could be in consideration.
While it unusual for someone to jump from one central bank to another, it is not unprecedented. Before taking over the Bank of England Mark Carney headed up the Bank of Canada. This is also not the first international move for Fischer. Born in Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1943 he received his undergraduate economics degree from the London School of Economics and his Ph.d from MIT. In addition to his years at MIT, Fischer has taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Chicago and Stanford University.
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También nominó a Lael Brainard, quien se desempeñaba como máxima funcionaria de asuntos internacionales del Departamento del Tesoro, para integrarse como gobernadora de la Fed.
