Factbox: Likely candidates to replace
Bernanke at Fed in 2014
Reuters
September 15, 2013 9:17 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawrence Summers, a former top economic
aide to President Barack Obama and
a Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, withdrew his name from
consideration to succeed Ben
Bernanke as Federal
Reserve chairman on Sunday.
Widely regarded as a brilliant economist
and a shrewd and decisive policy-maker, Summers was considered to be the
front-runner to replace Bernanke, whose second term expires in
January.
The former White House advisor was widely
viewed as Obama's top choice, but he had generated unusually fierce opposition
from progressive groups. He was criticized for his track record on financial
deregulation and for remarks made about women that were criticized as
sexist.
Summers' decision to drop out appears to
make Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen a strong contender for the job. But Obama has
been careful to say he is considering other candidates as well to take the helm
of the Fed.
Here is a quick look at the likely leading
choices:
JANET
YELLEN (Born
August 13, 1946)
Yellen, 67, has been Fed vice chair since
2010 and is viewed as a strong contender to be the next Fed
chair.
A Reuters poll in June 12 found that an
overwhelming majority of economists predicted she would get the job. But her
chances appeared to slip recently after Summers' friends launched an aggressive
lobbying campaign on his behalf.
Yellen has been a forceful advocate of the
aggressive steps taken under Bernanke to spur U.S. economic
growth, earning her a reputation as a policy "dove" who would tolerate a bit
more inflation to drive down unemployment that she deemed too
high.
If picked to succeed Bernanke, she would
become the 100-year-old central bank's first female chief. Before her current
post, Yellen was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She was
chairman of the White House Council of Economics Advisers under President Bill
Clinton and a Fed Board governor in Washington from 1994 to
1997.
A former professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Yellen has high standing among other
academics. She began her career as an assistant professor at Harvard University in the early 1970s before
shifting over to the Fed.
DONALD
KOHN (Born
November 7, 1942)
Kohn, who retired as Fed vice chair in
2010 after 40 years at the central bank, is a respected economist who would be
viewed as a very safe pair of hands at the Fed, if he could be persuaded to
return to public office.
Obama publicly named him as one of the
candidates he is considering.
People who have worked with Kohn have the
utmost respect for his ability and think he would make an excellent choice, but
they wonder if he really wants to take on such a grueling
job.
Before taking a Fed board seat, Kohn, 70,
was a top staff lieutenant to then-Chairman Alan Greenspan. He is now an
external member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, which sets
broad guidelines for the British financial system, and a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution, a Washington think
tank.
TIMOTHY
GEITHNER (Born
August 18, 1961)
Timothy Geithner, 52, was Obama's
first-term Treasury secretary. He is also seen as a possible contender for the
Fed nomination, but has said he does not want the
job.
If Geithner could be persuaded to change
his mind, his track record is compelling. Before he was tapped for Treasury, he
was already at the center of the nation's emergency response to the financial
crisis as head of the New York Fed.
He also held senior posts in the Clinton
Treasury Department and at the International Monetary Fund, and has longstanding
contacts with the nation's largest banks. However, some critics view those ties
to Wall Street as an impediment and say he was not tough enough on the banks,
which contributed to excessive risk-taking that ultimately led to the 2007-2009
housing crisis.
Geithner had a difficult Senate
confirmation as Treasury secretary in 2009 after it surfaced that he had failed
to pay some taxes, and that issue might re-emerge if he is tapped for the Fed.
Some lawmakers called for Geithner's resignation early in his tenure at
Treasury, but many Republicans later warmed to him, seeing him as an honest
broker during tough budget talks.
ROGER FERGUSON (Born October 28,
1951)
Ferguson, 61, is chief executive officer of
TIAA-CREF, which manages retirement funds for many U.S. schools and
hospitals. A Harvard-educated economist and lawyer who was Fed vice chairman
from 1999 to 2006, Ferguson was regarded within the Fed as a smart
and thorough policymaker. His appointment would be groundbreaking: He would be
the first African-American to chair the U.S. central
bank.
JANET
YELLEN
Janet L. Yellen
was the chairman for the Council of Economic
Advisers, is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations
(think tank), the vice chair for the Federal Reserve Board, and a member of the
Federal Open Market
Committee.
Note: Jason L. Furman
is the chairman for the Council of Economic
Advisers, the assistant to the president for economic policy for the
Barack Obama administration, and
was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Martin N. Baily
was the chairman for the Council of Economic
Advisers, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Rebecca M. Blank
was a member of the Council of Economic
Advisers, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and is
the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department
of Commerce for the Barack Obama
administration.
Lael Brainard was
the deputy national economic adviser for the Council of Economic Advisers, the VP &
director for the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and is the under secretary for international affairs at the
U.S. Department of the Treasury
for the Barack Obama
administration.
Mark B.
McClellan was a member of the Council of
Economic Advisers, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Laura D'Andrea
Tyson was the chair for the Council of
Economic Advisers, a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a
director at the Council on Foreign Relations
(think tank), and is a professor at the Haas School of
Business.
Richard C. Blum is
a board member for the Haas School of
Business, a member for the Council
on Foreign Relations (think tank), married to Senator Dianne Feinstein, and an honorary trustee
at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Haas
School of Business is a business school at the University of California, Berkeley.
Christina D.
Romer is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, married to David H. Romer, was the chair at the
Council of Economic Advisers for
the Barack Obama
administration.
David H. Romer is
married to Christina D. Romer, a
professor at the University of California, Berkeley, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was
the junior staff economist at the Council of
Economic Advisers.
Lawrence H.
Summers was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the
National Economic Council chairman for the Barack Obama administration, is a member of
the Council on Foreign Relations (think
tank), a senior adviser for the Alliance Partners, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think
tank).
Donald L. Kohn is
a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank),
a director at the Alliance
Partners, a member of the CBO
Panel of Economic Advisers, was the vice chairman for the Federal Reserve Board, and a member of the
Federal Open Market
Committee.
George Soros is a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations
(think tank), and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the
International Rescue Committee,
the Committee for Economic
Development, the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the New America
Foundation.
Timothy F.
Geithner is a fellow at the Council on
Foreign Relations (think tank), was an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, the
secretary at the U.S. Department of the
Treasury for the Barack Obama
administration, and the vice chairman for the Federal Open Market
Committee.
Roger W. Ferguson
Jr. is a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations (think tank), the co-chairman for the Committee for Economic Development, a
trustee at the Institute for Advanced
Study, was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the New
America Foundation, an Obama-Biden
economic advisory team member, the vice chairman for the Federal Reserve
Board.
Eric
E. Schmidt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank),
a trustee at the Institute for Advanced
Study, the chairman of the New
America Foundation, was a funder for the New America Foundation, an Obama-Biden economic advisory team member,
a trustee at Princeton University,
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Alan S. Blinder
is a director at the Council on Foreign
Relations (think tank), a professor at Princeton University, a friend of
Ben S. Bernanke, and was the vice
chairman for the Federal Reserve
Board.
Ben
S. Bernanke is a friend of Alan S. Blinder, the chairman for the
Federal Reserve Board, the
chairman for the Federal Reserve
System, the chairman for the Federal Open Market Committee, was a
professor at Princeton University, the chairman for
the Council of Economic Advisers,
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Christina D.
Romer was an assistant professor at Princeton University, the chair at the Council of Economic Advisers for the
Barack Obama administration, is
married to David H. Romer, and a
professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
David H. Romer
was an assistant professor at Princeton University, a junior staff economist for
the Council of Economic Advisers,
is married to Christina D. Romer,
a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Haas
School of Business is a business school at the University of California, Berkeley.
Richard C. Blum is
a board member for the Haas School of
Business, a member for the Council
on Foreign Relations (think tank), married to Senator Dianne Feinstein, and an honorary trustee
at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Janet L. Yellen
is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank),
the vice chair for the Federal Reserve
Board, a member of the Federal
Open Market Committee, and was the chairman for the Council of Economic
Advisers.
No comments:
Post a Comment