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Episode 229

Ben Bernanke Gives Himself a Grade

He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he’d seen this movie before.



The Washington Post Profiles Ben Bernanke

A thoughtful piece in the Washington Post on Ben Bernanke is extremely laudatory about his new approach at the Fed. I still worry that in the end that the government…



Bernanke Speaks. But What Did He Say?

Photo: Medill DC So Ben Bernanke finally spoke today. And as I predicted yesterday, all the early headlines are expressing disappointment that he didn’t announce QE3. But this disappointment is…





The Financial Meltdown Now and Then

…federal government took an 80 percent ownership stake in A.I.G. and offered $123 billion in credit to the struggling company. In late September, Paulson, Federal Reserve Chair Benjamin Bernanke, the…



Your Hedge Fund Questions, Answered

…a flight of the industry overseas, as Ben Bernanke hinted? (2) Do you think any reasonable objections can be raised against the proposal, considering that private equity fund managers, besides…



The FREAK-est Links

Lowenstein on Bernanke (Earlier) (More here) Which company insiders are buying a lot of their own stock? How does pregnancy affect memory? What’s the value of melancholia?…



More on the Missing Macroeconomists

…circles, many practical macroeconomists have left for policy work. When Bernanke, Blinder, Mankiw, and many others decided to spend time in D.C., they left the control of the top journals…



Episode 366

This Economist Predicted the Last Crisis. What’s the Next One?

In 2005, Raghuram Rajan said the financial system was at risk “of a catastrophic meltdown.” After stints at the I.M.F. and India’s central bank, he sees another potential crisis —…

Episode 339

The Future of Freakonomics Radio

After eight years and more than 300 episodes, it was time to either 1) quit, or 2) make the show bigger and better. We voted for number 2. Here’s a…

Episode 390

Fed Up

Mary Daly rose from high-school dropout to president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She thinks the central bank needs an upgrade too. It starts with recognizing that…

Episode 425

Remembrance of Economic Crises Past

Christina Romer was a top White House economist during the Great Recession. As a researcher, she specializes in the Great Depression. She tells us what those disasters can (and can’t)…

Episode 186

Why Do People Keep Having Children? (Replay)

Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.

Episode 72

Lottery Loopholes and Deadly Doctors

What do you do when smart people keep making stupid mistakes? And: are we a nation of financial illiterates? This is a “mashupdate” of “Is America Ready for a “No-Lose…

Episode 58

What Do Hand-Washing and Financial Illiteracy Have in Common?

Education is the surest solution to a lot of problems. Except when it’s not.

What Does Your Fed Valentine Say?

…are red. Violets are pink. Don’t listen to goldbugs. No one cares what they think. Austan Goolsbee @Austan_Goolsbee: Bernanke’s from South Carolina And deals with lots of big whiners. His…



Nassim Taleb on the Crisis

…swan (not a black one) and explains the poor risk metrics employed before the financial crisis. He also has harsh words for the Federal Reserve – specifically for “Bernanke’s incompetence.”[%comments]…




News Flash: Realtors Hate Levitt

…This second list is chock-full of economists. Ben Bernanke gets a thumbs-up from the Realtors because he “called at least a temporary halt after 17 straight rate increases that have…



Where Have All the Macroeconomists Gone?

…important?) issues to focus on. 6. I’m wrong: Academic economists have produced excellent policy-relevant analyses that are providing Bernanke with the ammunition he needs. I would love to be convinced…





The Year's Top Thinkers

Foreign Policy released its list of 2009’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. The No. 1 spot goes to Ben Bernanke for “staving off a new Great Depression,” while Obama takes No….



A Silver Lining to Unemployment?

(Photo: NCinDC) Friday’s labor-force data brought liberal outcries, and a comment from Ben Bernanke, that the drop in labor-force participation indicates unemployment is really much higher, and the economy in…



Let's Avoid Other New Deal Policy Blunders

…negotiated by Paulson and Bernanke. The largest Bush deficit was 3.2 percent of G.D.P. in 2008. In addition to all of the distribution of funds and guarantees in the financial…




Correcting Krugman

…Ben Bernanke, a monetary economist of the highest caliber, denies it, while John Taylor, an equally respected monetary economist insists on it. Some Fed studies accept responsibility while others deny…