Fed watchers seem to have a blind spot

Letter to the Financial Times (May 29, 2013)

From Mr Kai L. Chan.

Sir, In the game of forecasting the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Edward Luce and the usual Fed watchers are overlooking one obvious choice: Alan Blinder (“Summers has an edge in the race to head the Fed”, May 27).

Professor Blinder is one of the world’s foremost monetary economists, with academic credentials remarkably similar to Ben Bernanke – both earned their PhD (economics) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and became tenured professors at Princeton University. In terms of practical experience, Prof Blinder was vice-chairman at the Fed from 1994 to 1996; and at age 67 he is also younger than Donald Kohn. As a regular contributor in the media to the policy discussions surrounding central banking, it is surprising that his name has not been mentioned more often.

Kai L. Chan, Dubai, UAE

Letter as it appeared in the FT

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.