Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke is one of the most influential economists of our time. He served two terms as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, from 2006 to 2014. After leaving office, Bernanke has written three books on economics and finance, including Essays on the Great Recession and The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath. He also currently serves as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Brookings Institution.

Bernanke was born in Augusta, Georgia in 1953. As a student at Harvard University and later at MIT, he studied economics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975. In 1979 he received his PhD in economics from MIT.

In his early career, Bernanke was an economics professor at Stanford, Princeton and New York universities, and he has served as a fellow at the Brookings Institution since 1990. He was invited to join the board of governors at the Federal Reserve in 2002 and was subsequently nominated as chair in 2006 by President George W. Bush. He was reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 and was succeeded as chair by current chair Janet Yellen in 2014.

During his time as chair, Bernanke is widely credited with helping to prevent the world’s most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. In 2009, he announced an unprecedented $85 billion bailout for American International Group, the massive insurance company. He also implemented a controversial asset-buying program known as “quantitative easing,” which effectively injected billions of dollars worth of liquidity into the financial system.

In addition, Bernanke was one of the first to recognize the impending subprime mortgage crisis, and he took a leading role in the government’s response to the crisis, calling for more stringent regulation to help prevent future crises from occurring. On the other hand, Bernanke was criticized for continuing to pursue a policy of loose monetary policy, which some believe may have caused the economic bubbles that characterized the period prior to the crisis.

In 2015, Bernanke published his first book, Essays on the Great Recession, which examines the causes and effects of the 2008 recession. He wrote the book to inform both experienced economists and everyday readers who may have been struggling to come to terms with the financial crisis. In the book, he examines the causes of the recession, the government’s response, and the long-term effects of the crisis.

His most recent book, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath, was published in 2015. In this book, Bernanke recounts the dramatic events of the financial crisis and offers a candid account of the Federal Reserve's inner workings. He also examines the lessons learned from the crisis and considers the new risks that have arisen in the aftermath.

Though Bernanke did not become a household name until his tenure as the chair of the Federal Reserve, his impact on the global economy will be felt for generations to come. A renowned economist and a leader during one of the most difficult times in history, Bernanke is undoubtedly one of the most influential economic thinkers of our time.