Fischer brings crisis-fighting experience to Fed post
Stanley Fischer, said to be the leading candidate for the No2 job at the Federal Reserve in the United States, offers crisis-fighting experience and a dose of scepticism about efforts to shape expectations on the outlook for interest rates.
Stanley Fischer, said to be the leading candidate for the No 2 job at the Federal Reserve in the United States, offers crisis-fighting experience and a dose of scepticism about efforts to shape expectations on the outlook for interest rates.
The former Bank of Israel governor, although a newcomer to the Fed, also brings continuity and strong academic credentials: as a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he taught Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term ends next month, and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
Fischer was President Barack Obama's top choice to succeed Fed vice-chairman Janet Yellen, who has been nominated to replace Bernanke, said people familiar with the selection process. Obama had offered the job to Fischer, who accepted it, said one of the people, adding the decision was made jointly by Obama and Yellen.
"It's almost like a central bank hall of fame," said Robert Hall, a professor of economics at Stanford University.
Fischer stepped down as governor of the Bank of Israel in June, midway through his second five-year term. He was credited with helping his nation weather the global economic crisis.
If confirmed by the Senate, Fischer would assume the vice-chairmanship of a central bank struggling to convince investors that policy will remain easy even after it winds down its quantitative easing programme.
Asked in October when the Fed should begin tapering US$85 billion in monthly bond purchases, Fischer said: "There is an efficient way to do it, which is to start doing it pretty soon and to do it gradually."
He was the first central banker to cut interest rates in 2008 at the start of the global crisis and the first to raise them the following year in response to signs of a financial recovery.
