View source for Ben Bernanke

{{Short description|American economist (born 1953)}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ben Bernanke
| image               = Ben Bernanke official portrait.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 2008
| alt                 = Bernanke smiling, wearing a suit
| office              = 14th [[Chairman of the Federal Reserve]]
| president           = [[George W. Bush]]<br/>[[Barack Obama]]
| deputy              = [[Roger W. Ferguson Jr.|Roger Ferguson]]<br/>[[Donald Kohn]]<br/>Janet Yellen
| term_start          = February 1, 2006
| term_end            = January 31, 2014
| predecessor         = [[Alan Greenspan]]
| successor           = [[Janet Yellen]]
| office1             = Member of the [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors]]
| president1          = George W. Bush<br/>Barack Obama
| term_start1         = February 1, 2006
| term_end1           = January 31, 2014
| predecessor1        = Alan Greenspan
| successor1          = [[Stanley Fischer]]
| president2          = George W. Bush
| term_start2         = July 31, 2002
| term_end2           = June 21, 2005
| predecessor2        = Edward W. Kelley Jr.
| successor2          = [[Kevin Warsh]]
| office3             = 23rd Chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]]
| president3          = George W. Bush
| term_start3         = June 21, 2005
| term_end3           = January 31, 2006
| predecessor3        = [[Harvey S. Rosen|Harvey Rosen]]
| successor3          = [[Edward Lazear]]
| birth_name          = Ben Shalom Bernanke
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1953|12|13}}
| birth_place         = [[Augusta, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (before 2015)<br>[[Independent politician|Independent]] (2015–present)
| spouse              = Anna Friedmann
| children            = 2
| education           = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])<br/>[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| awards              = [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] (2022)
| signature           = Ben Bernanke signature.svg
| signature_alt       = Signature of Ben Bernanke
| module              = {{Infobox academic
| child               = yes
| thesis_title = Long Term Commitments, Dynamic Optimization, and the Business Cycle
| thesis_url  = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302981767/
| thesis_year = 1979
| discipline               = [[Macroeconomics]]
| doctoral_advisor    = [[Stanley Fischer]]<ref>{{cite thesis |last= Bernanke |first= Ben Shalom |date= 1979 |title= Long-term commitments, dynamic optimization, and the business cycle | type= Ph.D. |publisher= [[MIT]] |url= https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/29839/05915220-MIT.pdf?sequence=2 |access-date= October 23, 2016}}</ref>
}}
}}

'''Ben Shalom Bernanke'''<ref>Bernanke's first name is Ben, not Benjamin, and "Ben Shalom" is not abbreviated. (See: "[http://www.slate.com/id/2128630/ Big Ben]", ''Slate'', October 24, 2005; see also "[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/nominations/106.html Presidential Nomination: Ben Shalom Bernanke]", ''George W. Bush White House'', January 2009)</ref> ({{IPAc-en|b|ər|ˈ|n|æ|ŋ|k|i}} {{respell|bər|NANG|kee}}; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th [[chairman of the Federal Reserve]] from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Federal Reserve, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the [[Brookings Institution]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.brookings.edu/about/media-relations/news-releases/2014/0203-bernanke-hutchins-center | title = Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Join Economic Studies at Brookings |publisher = Brookings | date = February 3, 2014 | access-date = February 3, 2014}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Amadeo|first=Kimberly|title=The Great Depression Expert Who Prevented the Second Great Depression|url=https://www.thebalance.com/federal-reserve-chairman-ben-bernanke-3306152|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=The Balance}}</ref> During his tenure as chairman, Bernanke oversaw the [[Federal Reserve]]'s response to the [[2008 financial crisis]], for which he was named the 2009 [[Time Person of the Year|''Time'' Person of the Year]].<ref name=":0" /> Before becoming Federal Reserve chairman, Bernanke was a tenured professor at [[Princeton University]] and chaired the [[Princeton University Department of Economics|Department of Economics]] there from 1996 to September 2002, when he went on public service leave.<ref name=":0" /> Bernanke was awarded the 2022 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]], jointly with [[Douglas Diamond]] and [[Philip H. Dybvig]], "for research on banks and financial crises",<ref name="nobelprize.org"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-10 |title=Former Fed Chair Bernanke shares Nobel for research on banks |url=https://apnews.com/article/nobel-economy-bernanke-2bb3eaee673631c8f8a13a66dd1c946b |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref> more specifically for his analysis of the [[Great Depression]].

From August 5, 2002, until June 21, 2005, he was a member of the [[Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]], proposed the [[Bernanke doctrine]], and first discussed "[[Great Moderation|the Great Moderation]]"—the theory that traditional business cycles have declined in volatility in recent decades through structural changes that have occurred in the international economy, particularly increases in the economic stability of developing nations, diminishing the influence of macroeconomic (monetary and fiscal) policy.

Bernanke then served as chairman of President [[George W. Bush]]'s [[Council of Economic Advisers]] before President Bush nominated him to succeed [[Alan Greenspan]] as chairman of the United States [[Federal Reserve]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Andrews|first=Edmund L.|date=October 24, 2005|title=Bush Nominates Bernanke to Succeed Greenspan as Fed Chief|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/business/bush-nominates-bernanke-to-succeed-greenspan-as-fed-chief.html|access-date=July 29, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His first term began on February 1, 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ben S. Bernanke formally sworn in to second term as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System|url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20100203a.htm|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System}}</ref> Bernanke was confirmed for a second term as chairman on January 28, 2010, after being renominated by President [[Barack Obama]], who later referred to him as "the epitome of calm."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/yellen-obama-choice-succeed-bernanke-fed-article-1.1480306   |publisher=[[Mort Zuckerman]]|date=October 9, 2013|agency=Associated Press|title= Obama nominates Janet Yellen to succeed Bernanke at Federal Reserve}}</ref> His second term ended on January 31, 2014, when he was succeeded by [[Janet Yellen]] on February 3, 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Yellen sworn in as Fed chair in brief ceremony|url=https://apnews.com/73268c26d2be4c49b17d558846a49465|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=The Associated Press|date=February 3, 2014 }}</ref>

Bernanke wrote about his time as chairman of the Federal Reserve in his 2015 book, ''The Courage to Act'', in which he revealed that the world's economy came close to collapse in 2007 and 2008. Bernanke asserts that it was only the novel efforts of the Fed (cooperating with other US agencies and agencies of other governments) that prevented an economic catastrophe greater than the [[Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite news|url=  https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/books/review/ben-bernankes-the-courage-to-act.html?_r=0 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 8, 2013|first=Michael|last=Kinsley|title= Ben Bernanke's 'The Courage to Act'}}</ref>

==Early life and family==
Bernanke was born in [[Augusta, Georgia]], and was raised on East Jefferson Street in [[Dillon, South Carolina]].<ref name=FCBHISAF>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123454070638883495|work=The Wall Street Journal|publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company]]|date=February 14, 2009|page=A1|author=Phillips, Michael M.|title=Fed Chief's Boyhood Home Is Sold After Foreclosure}}</ref> His father Philip was a [[pharmacist]] and part-time theater manager. His mother Edna was an elementary school teacher.<ref>Wessel, David. ''In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic'' (New York: Crown Business, 2009), p. 69.</ref> Bernanke has two younger siblings. His brother, Seth, is a lawyer in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]]. His sister, Sharon, is a longtime administrator at [[Berklee College of Music]] in Boston.

The Bernankes were one of the few [[American Jews|Jewish]] families in Dillon and attended Ohav Shalom, a local synagogue;<ref name=speech20060901>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/Bernanke20060901a.htm |title=Federal Reserve Speech: Chairman Ben S. Bernanke At the presentation of the Order of the Palmetto, Dillon, South Carolina |publisher=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System|date=September 1, 2006 |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100120065114/http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/Bernanke20060901a.htm| archive-date= January 20, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> Bernanke learned [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as a child from his maternal grandfather, Harold Friedman, a professional [[hazzan]] (cantor), [[shochet]], and Hebrew teacher.<ref name="usa">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2006-01-31-bernanke-begins-usat_x.htm|title=New Fed chief will face an economy with issues|last=Kirchhoff|first=Sue|date=January 31, 2006|work=USA Today|access-date=November 8, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Person of the Year 2009">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1947251,00.html/ | title=Person of the Year (2009) | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=December 16, 2009 | access-date=April 26, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417233621/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1947251,00.html | archive-date=April 17, 2010 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Bernanke's father and uncle owned and managed a drugstore they purchased from Bernanke's paternal grandfather, Jonas Bernanke.<ref name=FCBHISAF/>

Jonas Bernanke was born in [[Boryslav]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (today part of [[Ukraine]]), on January 23, 1891. He immigrated to the United States from [[Przemyśl]], [[Poland]], and arrived at [[Ellis Island]], aged 30, on June 30, 1921, with his wife Pauline, aged 25. On the ship's manifest, Jonas's occupation is listed as "clerk" and Pauline's as "doctor med".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetailEIImage.aspx?type=shipMf&id=100104040109 |title=Jonas Bernanke|work=The Times/Ellis Island Legacy Keepsake |publisher=Nytstore.com |date=June 30, 1921|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205162314/http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetailEIImage.aspx?type=passRecord&id=100104040109|archive-date=December 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetailEIImage.aspx?type=passRecord&id=100104040110 |title=Pauline Bernanke|work=The Times/Ellis Island Legacy Keepsake |publisher=Nytstore.com |date=June 30, 1921 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205162319/http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetailEIImage.aspx?type=passRecord&id=100104040110|archive-date=December 5, 2008}}</ref>

The family moved to Dillon from New York in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200404162/default.htm |title=FRB: Speech, Bernanke-Financial Access for Immigrants: The Case of Remittances-April 16, 2004 |publisher=The Federal Reserve Board |date=April 16, 2004 |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref> Bernanke's mother gave up her job as a schoolteacher when her son was born and worked at the family drugstore. Ben Bernanke also worked there sometimes.<ref name=speech20060901 />

===Young adult===
As a teenager, Bernanke worked construction on a hospital and waited tables at a restaurant at nearby [[South of the Border (attraction)|South of the Border]], which was a roadside attraction, amusement park, and fireworks retailer near his hometown in [[Hamer, South Carolina]], before leaving for college.<ref name=FCBHISAF/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/video.php?cid=927554855&pid=SqN5vDPlDNGTu_V7A8Ab5MF4UpdHB4dQ&play=true&cc=0 |title=60 Minutes Video – 60 Minutes, 06.07.09 |publisher=CBS.com |access-date=January 30, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bernanke speaks at ceremony naming I-95 interchange - Mar. 7, 2009|url=https://money.cnn.com/2009/03/07/news/newsmakers/bernanke_interchange/index.htm|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=money.cnn.com}}</ref> To support himself throughout college, he continued to work during the summers at South of the Border.<ref name=FCBHISAF/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/business/20bernanke.html | title=In First Crisis on the Job, Bernanke's About-Face Is Weighed | author=John M. Broder |work=The New York Times | date=August 20, 2007 | access-date=March 15, 2008}}</ref>

===Religion===
As a teenager in the 1960s, Bernanke helped roll the [[Torah]] scrolls in his local synagogue.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 16, 2009|title=Ben Bernanke, Time Mag's 2009 'Person of the Year' is Jewish |url=https://jewishjournal.com/uncategorized/75127/|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Jewish Journal}}</ref> Although he keeps his beliefs private, his friend [[Mark Gertler (economist)|Mark Gertler]], chairman of New York University's economics department, says they are "embedded in who he (Bernanke) is."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/2273/ |work=The Daily Forward|title=Fed Nominee Bernanke Was Molded By Upbringing in Small-town South |date=November 18, 2005 |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100213191517/http://www.forward.com/articles/2273/| archive-date= February 13, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> Once Bernanke was at Harvard for his freshman year, fellow Dillon native [[Kenneth Manning]] took him to Brookline for [[Rosh Hashanah]] services.<ref>Wessel, David. ''In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic'' (New York: Crown Business, 2009), pp. 70–71.</ref>

===Education===
Bernanke was educated at East Elementary, J.V. Martin Junior High, and [[Dillon High School]], where he was class [[valedictorian]] and played saxophone in the [[marching band]].<ref>Wessel, David (2009), ''In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic'', New York: Crown Business,  p. 70.</ref> Since Dillon High School did not offer [[calculus]] at the time, Bernanke taught it to himself.<ref name=Time09>{{cite magazine |title=Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke |author=Romero, Frances |date=March 16, 2009|access-date=January 28, 2010|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1885318,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318210131/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1885318,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 18, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bernanke is a student of Great Depression, Red Sox |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2005-10-24-bernanke-profile_x.htm |author=Johnston, Danny |agency=Associated Press |work=USA Today |date=October 24, 2005|access-date=January 28, 2010}}</ref> Bernanke scored 1590 out of 1600 on the [[SAT]]<ref name=Time09/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/14/AR2005111401544.html | title=Bernanke Unwrapped | author=White, Ben| newspaper=The Washington Post | date=November 15, 2005 | access-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref> and was a [[National Merit Scholarship Program|National Merit Scholar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalmerit.org/scholars_you_may_know.php |title=National Merit Scholarship Corporation - Scholars You May Know |work=nationalmerit.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612232747/http://nationalmerit.org/scholars_you_may_know.php |archive-date=June 12, 2010  }}</ref>  He also was a contestant in the [[38th Scripps National Spelling Bee|1965 National Spelling Bee]].<ref name="ben">White, Ben (November 15, 2005). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/14/AR2005111401544.html Bernanke Unwrapped], ''[[The Washington Post]]''</ref><ref name="Greenville65">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/188979510|title=Dillon Boy Is New S. C. Champion In Spelling Bee Held at Anderson|newspaper=[[The Greenville News]]|date=May 9, 1965|access-date=October 18, 2017|page=1}}</ref>

Bernanke entered [[Harvard College]] in 1971,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/05fed.html|title=At Harvard, They Hail a Fed Chief|last=Grynbaum|first=Michael M.|date=June 5, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 30, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> where he lived in [[Winthrop House]], as did the future chief executive officer of [[Goldman Sachs]], [[Lloyd Blankfein]], and graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] degree, and later with an [[Master of Arts|A.M.]] in [[economics]] ''[[summa cum laude]]'' in 1975. He received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] degree in economics from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 1979 after completing and defending his dissertation, ''Long-Term Commitments, Dynamic Optimization, and the Business Cycle''. Bernanke's thesis adviser was the future governor of the [[Bank of Israel]], [[Stanley Fischer]], and his readers included Irwin S. Bernstein, [[Rüdiger Dornbusch]], [[Robert Solow]], and [[Peter Diamond]] of MIT and [[Dale Jorgenson]] of Harvard.<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|last=Bernanke|first=Benjamin Shalom|date=May 1979|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|url=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/1721.1/29839/1/05915220.pdf|title=Long-Term Commitments, Dynamic Optimization, and the Business Cycle|access-date=July 13, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530085102/http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/1721.1/29839/1/05915220.pdf|archive-date=May 30, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Academic and government career (1979–2006)==
[[File:President Barack Obama meets with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke 4-10-09.jpg|thumb|250px|Bernanke meeting with United States President [[Barack Obama]].]]
Bernanke taught at the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]] from 1979 until 1985, was a visiting professor at [[New York University]] and went on to become a [[tenure]]d professor at [[Princeton University]] in the [[Princeton University Department of Economics|Department of Economics]]. He chaired that department from 1996 until September 2002, when he went on public service leave. He resigned his position at Princeton July 1, 2005.

Bernanke served as a member of the [[Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]] from 2002 to 2005. In one of his first speeches as a governor, entitled "Deflation: Making Sure It Doesn't Happen Here", he outlined what has been referred to as the [[Bernanke doctrine]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021121/default.htm | title= Deflation: Making Sure 'It' Doesn't Happen Here, Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. November 21, 2002}}</ref>

As a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 20, 2004, Bernanke gave a speech in which he postulated that we are in a new era called the [[Great Moderation]], where modern macroeconomic policy has decreased the volatility of the business cycle to the point that it should no longer be a central issue in economics.<ref>Krugman, Paul R. (2009). ''The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008''. Norton & Company. p. 10.</ref>

In June 2005, Bernanke was named chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers and resigned as Fed governor. The appointment was largely viewed as a test run to ascertain if Bernanke could be Bush's pick to succeed Greenspan as Fed chairman the next year.<ref name=NYT20051026>[[Edmund Andrews (reporter)|Andrews, Edmund L.]]; [[David Leonhardt|Leonhardt, David]]; Porter, Eduardo; [[Louis Uchitelle|Uchitelle, Louis]] (October 26, 2005), [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/at-the-fed-an-unknown-became-a-safe-choice.html "At the Fed, an Unknown Became a Safe Choice"], ''The New York Times''. Retrieved January 31, 2010</ref> He held the post until January 2006.

==Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve==
[[File:Ben Bernanke testifying.png|thumb|Bernanke testifying before the [[House Financial Services Committee]] responding to a question on February 10, 2009.]]
On February 1, 2006, Bernanke began a fourteen-year term as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and a four-year term as chairman.<ref name=NYT20051026 /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/bernanke.htm |title=Ben S. Bernanke|publisher=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System|access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100124045445/http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/bernanke.htm| archive-date= January 24, 2010 }}</ref> By virtue of the chairmanship, he sat on the [[Financial Stability Oversight Board]] that oversees the [[Troubled Asset Relief Program]]. He also served as chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policy making body.

His first months as chairman of the Federal Reserve System were marked by difficulties communicating with the media. An advocate of more transparent Fed policy and clearer statements than Greenspan had made, he had to back away from his initial idea of stating clearer inflation goals as such statements tended to affect the stock market.<ref name="lowenstein08">{{Cite news | last=Lowenstein | first=Roger | title=The Education of Ben Bernanke | newspaper=[[The New York Times Magazine]] | date=January 20, 2008 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20Ben-Bernanke-t.html }}</ref> [[Maria Bartiromo]] disclosed on [[CNBC]] comments from their private conversation at the [[White House Correspondents' Association Dinner]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052300642.html |title=Fed Chief Calls His Remarks A Mistake |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= May 24, 2006|access-date=January 30, 2010 | first=Nell | last=Henderson}}</ref>  She reported that Bernanke said investors had misinterpreted his comments as indicating that he was "dovish" on inflation. He was sharply criticized for making public statements about Fed direction, which he said was a "lapse in judgment."

===2008 financial crisis===
[[File:President Bush Discusses Economy 2008-9-19.jpg|thumb|Bernanke (left) in September 2008 as President Bush speaks about the economy]]{{Further|2008 financial crisis}}
As the Great Recession deepened, Bernanke oversaw some unorthodox measures. Under his guidance, the Fed lowered its [[Federal funds rate|funds interest rate]] from 5.25% to 0.0% within less than a year. When this was considered insufficient to abate the [[liquidity crisis]], the Fed initiated [[Quantitative Easing|quantitative easing]], creating $1.3 trillion from November 2008 to June 2010 and using the created money to buy financial assets from banks and from the government.

=== Second term ===
[[File:Bernanke Briefing 2013 (9088486134) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bernanke answers questions in 2013 at [[Federal Open Market Committee|FOMC]] press conference]]
On August 25, 2009, President Obama announced he would nominate Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.<ref>{{cite web |first=Edmund L. |last=Andrews |title=Obama to Nominate Bernanke to 2nd Term at Fed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/business/25bernanke.html?_r=0 |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 2009 |access-date=July 24, 2017}}</ref> In a short statement on Martha's Vineyard, with Bernanke standing at his side, Obama said Bernanke's background, temperament, courage and creativity helped to prevent another [[Great Depression]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hilsenrath |first1=Jon |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125120274221856591 |first2=Elizabeth|last2=Williamson|first3=Jonathan|last3=Weisman|title=Calm in Crisis Won Fed Job|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100204034453/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125120274221856591.html| archive-date= February 4, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> When Senate Banking Committee hearings on his nomination began on December 3, 2009, several senators from both parties indicated they would not support a second term.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/24/mccain-leaning-against-vo_n_434666.html |title=McCain To Oppose Bernanke Reconfirmation |work=The Huffington Post|date=January 24, 2010| access-date=July 15, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110607184618/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/24/mccain-leaning-against-vo_n_434666.html| archive-date= June 7, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sloan |first=Steven |url=http://www.iddmagazine.com/news/senate-vote-on-bernanke-confirmation-set-for-thursday-202256-1.html |title=Senate Vote on Bernanke Confirmation Set for Thursday |work=Investment Dealers' Digest |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100204213004/http://www.iddmagazine.com/news/senate-vote-on-bernanke-confirmation-set-for-thursday-202256-1.html| archive-date= February 4, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012203075.html |title=Populist backlash puts Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke under siege |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 23, 2010|access-date=January 30, 2010| first1=Neil | last1=Irwin | first2=Lori | last2=Montgomery}}</ref><ref name="russ and barb">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/business/economy/23fed.html?hp |author=Chan, Sewell |title=2 Key Senators Oppose a Second Term for Bernanke |work=The New York Times |date=January 22, 2010|access-date=January 22, 2010|page=A1| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100125152457/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/business/economy/23fed.html?hp| archive-date= January 25, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=3565601c-6a0c-4918-ad8a-a8f6162a05a2|title= Release: Sanders Puts Hold on Bernanke|date= December 2, 2009|access-date=January 24, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100203045026/http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=3565601c-6a0c-4918-ad8a-a8f6162a05a2| archive-date= February 3, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/senate-dems-not-sure-they-can-get-enough-votes-to-reconfirm-bernanke.html|title= Senate Dems Not Sure They Can Get Enough Votes to Reconfirm Bernanke|date= January 21, 2010|work= ABC News|access-date=January 24, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100125171248/http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/senate-dems-not-sure-they-can-get-enough-votes-to-reconfirm-bernanke.html| archive-date= January 25, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

However, Bernanke was confirmed for a second term as chairman on January 28, 2010, by a 70–30 vote of the full Senate,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00016|title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote|date=January 28, 2010|publisher=U.S. Senate|access-date=January 28, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100203113051/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00016| archive-date= February 3, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> the narrowest margin, at the time, for any occupant of the position.<ref>{{cite news | last=Irwin | first= Neil |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012800103.html?hpid=topnews |title=Senate confirms Bernanke for second term as Federal Reserve chairman |work=The New York Times|access-date=January 28, 2010|date=January 28, 2010}}</ref> (For the roll-call vote, see [[Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet#Confirmation roll call votes|Obama confirmations, 2010]].) The Senate first voted 77–23 to end debate, Bernanke winning more than the 60 approval votes needed to overcome the possibility of a [[filibuster]].<ref name=Chan>{{cite news|last=Chan |first=Sewell |url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6841150.html |title=Bernanke wins a second term, but it's a tepid victory |work=Houston Chronicle |access-date=January 29, 2010 |date=January 28, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> On a second vote to confirm, the 30 dissents came from 11 Democrats, 18 Republicans and one independent.<ref name=Chan/>

Bernanke was succeeded as chair of the Federal Reserve by [[Janet Yellen]], the first woman to hold the position. Yellen was nominated on October 9, 2013, by President Obama and confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on January 6, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/01/06/janet-yellen-confirmed-as-federal-reserve-chair/|title= Janet Yellen Confirmed as Fed Chair| work=[[Legal Times]] | date=January 6, 2014}}</ref>

==Controversies as Federal Reserve Chairman==
Bernanke has been subjected to criticism concerning the [[2008 financial crisis]]. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Bernanke "has been attacked for failing to foresee the financial crisis, for bailing out Wall Street, and, most recently, for injecting an additional $600 billion into the banking system to give the slow recovery a boost."<ref name=Paul>{{cite news |last=Chan |first=Sewell |date=December 11, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/weekinreview/12chan.html?src=twrhp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815002318/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/weekinreview/12chan.html?src=twrhp |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |title=The Fed? Ron Paul's Not a Fan |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=July 14, 2019}}</ref>

===Merrill Lynch merger with Bank of America===
In a letter to Congress from then-[[New York State Attorney General]] [[Andrew Cuomo]] dated April 23, 2009, Bernanke was mentioned along with former Treasury Secretary [[Henry Paulson]] in allegations of fraud concerning the acquisition of [[Merrill Lynch]] by [[Bank of America]]. The letter alleged that the extent of the losses at Merrill Lynch was not disclosed to Bank of America by Bernanke and Paulson. When [[Ken Lewis (executive)|Ken Lewis]], the chief executive officer of Bank of America, informed Paulson that Bank of America was exiting the merger by invoking the "[[material adverse change|Material Adverse Change]]" (MAC) clause, Paulson immediately called Lewis to a meeting in Washington. At the meeting, which allegedly took place on December 21, 2008, Paulson told Lewis that he and the board would be replaced if they invoked the MAC clause and additionally not to reveal the extent of the losses to shareholders. Paulson stated to Cuomo's office that he was directed by Bernanke to threaten Lewis in this manner.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/apr/pdfs/BofAmergLetter.pdf | title=Andrew Cuomo letter to Congress, April 23, 2009 | access-date=May 6, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520235631/http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/apr/pdfs/BofAmergLetter.pdf | archive-date=May 20, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Congressional hearings into these allegations were conducted on June 25, 2009, with Bernanke testifying that he did not bully Lewis. Under intense questioning by members of Congress, Bernanke said, "I never said anything about firing the board and the management [of Bank of America]." In further testimony, Bernanke said the Fed did nothing illegal or unethical in its efforts to convince Bank of America not to end the merger. Lewis told the panel that authorities expressed "strong views" but said he would not characterize their stance as improper.<ref>"Lawmakers hit out at Paulson over BofA-Merrill". Reuters.
 July 16, 2009</ref>

===AIG bailout===
According to a January 26, 2010, column in ''[[The Huffington Post]]'', a [[whistleblower]] has disclosed documents providing {{" '}}troubling details' of Bernanke's role in the AIG bailout". Republican Senator [[Jim Bunning]] of Kentucky said on CNBC that he had seen documents which show that Bernanke overruled recommendations from his staff in bailing out AIG. The columnist says this raises questions as to whether or not the decision to bail out AIG was necessary. Senators from both parties who support Bernanke say his actions averted worse problems and outweighed whatever responsibility this may have created for the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref>Grim, Ryan (January 27, 2010), [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-bernanke-hiding-a-smok_n_437509 "Is Bernanke Hiding A Smoking Gun?"], ''[[HuffPost]]''</ref>

===Edward Quince===
The crisis in 2008 also made Ben Bernanke create a pseudonym, Edward Quince. According to the Wall Street Journal, the false name was evidence in a class-action lawsuit against the government by shareholders of AIG, which had been given a Fed-backed bailout when it was near collapse (see below). One of Mr. Quince's emails reads, "We think they are days from failure. They think it is a temporary problem. This disconnect is dangerous."<ref name=":2">{{cite web|last=Paletta|first=Damian|date=October 9, 2014|title=Meet Edward Quince, the Secret Federal Reserve Chairman in 2008|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/10/09/meet-edward-quince-the-secret-federal-reserve-chairman-in-2008/?_ga=1.127706573.1908847502.1399564430|access-date=November 25, 2022}}</ref> Upon the revelation of the Quince pseudonym during the Starr v. United States trial, ''The New York Times'' created a cocktail inspired by Mr. Bernanke's chosen alias: the "Rye & Quince."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Irwin|first1=Neil|title=A Crisis, an Alias, and a Cocktail with Quince|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/upshot/a-crisis-an-alias-and-a-cocktail-with-quince.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 10, 2014}}</ref>

==Economic views==

[[File:Ben Bernanke sworn in to the Federal Reserve Post.jpg|thumb|250px|With his predecessor, [[Alan Greenspan]], looking on, Chairman Ben Bernanke addresses President [[George W. Bush]] and others after being sworn into the [[Federal Reserve]] post. Also on stage with the President are Mrs. Anna Bernanke and [[Roger W. Ferguson Jr.]], Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve.]]
Bernanke has given several lectures at the [[London School of Economics]] on [[monetary theory]] and policy. He has written two textbooks: an intermediate-level macroeconomics textbook coauthored with [[Andrew Abel]] (and also Dean Croushore in later editions) and an introductory textbook, covering both microeconomics and macroeconomics, coauthored with [[Robert H. Frank]]. Bernanke was the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] and the editor of the [[American Economic Review]]. He is among the 50 most published economists in the world according to [[RePEc|IDEAS/RePEc]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.person.all.html|title=Economist Rankings - IDEAS/RePEc|last=|website=ideas.repec.org}}</ref>

Bernanke is particularly interested in the economic and political causes of the [[Great Depression]], on which he has published numerous academic journal articles. Before Bernanke's work, the dominant [[monetarist]] theory of the Great Depression was [[Milton Friedman|Milton Friedman's]] view that it had been largely caused by the [[Federal Reserve]]'s having reduced the [[money supply]] and has on several occasions argued that one of the biggest mistakes made during the period was to raise interest rates too early.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opellius.com/commentary/bernanke-vs-yellen-spooky-outlook/|title=Opellius: "Bernanke vs. Yellen: A Spooky Outlook?" By Axel Merk}}</ref> In a speech on Milton Friedman's ninetieth birthday (November 8, 2002), Bernanke said:
<blockquote>"Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna [Schwartz, Friedman's coauthor]: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again."<ref>FRB Speech: [http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021108/default.htm Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, At the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 8, 2002]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Jacobson Schwartz|author3=National Bureau of Economic Research|title=The Great Contraction, 1929-1933|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding+the+Great+Depression+You%27re+right+We+did+it%22&pg=PP1 |year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13794-0 |page=247|chapter=B. Bernanke's speech to M. Friedman}}</ref></blockquote>

Bernanke has cited Milton Friedman and [[Anna Schwartz]] in his decision to lower interest rates to zero.<ref name="reason1">{{cite web|author=Penn Bullock |url=http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/17/bernankes-philosopher |title=Bernanke's Philosopher |work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |date=November 17, 2009 |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091231013820/http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/17/bernankes-philosopher| archive-date= December 31, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> Anna Schwartz, however, was highly critical of Bernanke and wrote an opinion piece in ''The New York Times'' advising Obama against his reappointment as chairman of the Federal Reserve.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26schwartz.html?_r=0 | title=Man Without a Plan | work=The New York Times| date=July 25, 2009 | access-date=December 13, 2012 | author=anna schwartz}}</ref> Bernanke focused less on the role of the Federal Reserve and more on the role of private banks and financial institutions.<ref>Bernanke, Ben S., "Non-Monetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression", ''American Economic Review'', 73 (June 1983), pp. 257–76.</ref>

Bernanke found that the financial disruptions of 1930–33 reduced the efficiency of the credit allocation process; and that the resulting higher cost and reduced availability of credit acted to depress aggregate demand, identifying an effect he called the [[financial accelerator]]. When faced with a mild downturn, banks are likely to significantly cut back lending and other risky ventures. This further hurts the economy, creating a [[vicious cycle]] and potentially turning a mild recession into a major depression.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/Bernanke20070615a.htm |title=The Financial Accelerator and the Credit Channel, The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy in the Twenty-first Century Conference, Atlanta, Georgia|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta |date=June 15, 2007 |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113161200/http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20070615a.htm| archive-date= January 13, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> Economist [[Brad DeLong]], who had previously advocated his own theory for the Great Depression, notes that the [[2008 financial crisis]] raised the pertinence of Bernanke's theory.<ref>Brad DeLong. "[http://webcast.berkeley.edu/mediaplayer/player.swf Lecture 10: Depressions and Panics, 1840–1933] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304235814/http://webcast.berkeley.edu/mediaplayer/player.swf |date=March 4, 2009 }}" ''Economics 113&nbsp;– American Economic History'' UC Berkeley</ref>

In 2002, following coverage of concerns about [[deflation]] in the business news, Bernanke gave a speech about the topic.<ref name="speech-Nov2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/speeches/2002/20021121/default.htm |title=Speech, Bernanke -Deflation- November 21, 2002 |publisher=US Federal Reserve Bank |access-date=January 30, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100204075637/http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/speeches/2002/20021121/default.htm| archive-date= February 4, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> In that speech, he mentioned that the government in a [[fiat money]] system owns the physical means of creating money and to maintain [[market liquidity]]. Control of the money supply implies that the government can always avoid deflation by simply issuing more money. He said, "The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at no cost."<ref name="speech-Nov2002"/>

He referred to a statement made by [[Milton Friedman]] about using a "[[helicopter drop]]" of money into the economy to fight deflation. Bernanke's critics have since referred to him as "Helicopter Ben" or to his "helicopter printing press." In a footnote to his speech, Bernanke noted that "people know that inflation erodes the real value of the government's debt and, therefore, that it is in the interest of the government to create some inflation."<ref name="speech-Nov2002"/>

For example, while Greenspan publicly supported President Clinton's deficit reduction plan and the [[Tax cuts#Tax cuts in the United States|Bush tax cuts]], Bernanke, when questioned about taxation policy, said that it was none of his business, his exclusive remit being monetary policy, and said that fiscal policy and wider society related issues were what politicians were for and got elected for. But Bernanke has been identified by ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' and a close colleague as a "libertarian-Republican" in the mold of Alan Greenspan.<ref name="reason1"/>

In 2005 Bernanke coined the term [[saving glut]], the idea that relatively high level of worldwide [[savings]] was holding down interest rates and financing the current account deficits of the United States. (Alternative reasons include relatively low worldwide investment coupled with low U.S. savings.)<ref name=BB2005>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/200503102/default.htm |title=Governor Ben S. Bernanke, The Global Saving Glut and the U.S. Current Account Deficit |publisher=US Federal Reserve Bank |date=March 2005 |access-date=June 5, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090614111835/http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/200503102/default.htm| archive-date= June 14, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

As the recession began in 2007, many economists urged Bernanke (and the rest of the [[Federal Open Market Committee]]) to lower the [[federal funds rate]] below what it had done. For example, [[Lawrence Summers|Larry Summers]], later named Director of the White House's [[United States National Economic Council|National Economic Council]] under President Obama, wrote in the ''[[Financial Times]]'' on November 26, 2007—in a column in which he argued that recession was likely—that "maintaining demand must be the {{sic|hide=y|over-|arching}} macro-economic priority. That means the Federal Reserve System has to get ahead of the curve and recognize—as the market already has—that levels of the Federal Funds rate that were neutral when the financial system was working normally are quite contractionary today."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://natgagu.blogspot.com/2007/11/larry-summers-in-financial-times.html | title=Larry Summers in The Financial Times | date=November 27, 2007}}</ref>

[[David Leonhardt]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote, on January 30, 2008, that "Dr. Bernanke's forecasts have been too sunny over the last six months. [On] the other hand, his forecast was a lot better than Wall Street's in mid-2006. Back then, he resisted calls for further interest rate increases because he thought the economy might be weakening."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30leonhardt.html?pagewanted=2&ref=business |title=Bernanke's Midterm Tests |author=David Leonhardt |work=The New York Times |date=January 30, 2008 | access-date=April 26, 2010}}</ref>

==After the Federal Reserve==
[[File:VCY CG CB CV cent grp 121613 0517 02844 (13896600480).jpg|thumb|From left to right: [[Janet Yellen]], [[Alan Greenspan]], Ben Bernanke, and [[Paul Volcker]], May 1, 2014.]]
In a speech at the [[American Economics Association]] conference in January 2014, Bernanke reflected on his tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He expressed his hope that economic growth was building momentum and stated that he was confident that the central bank would be able to withdraw its support smoothly.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bernanke-celebrates-feds-achievements-highlights-uncompleted-tasks/2014/01/03/0460b26c-74af-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html?hpid=z4 |title= Bernanke Celebrates Fed Achievements|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 3, 2014}}</ref>

In an October 2014 speech, Bernanke disclosed that he was unsuccessful in efforts to refinance his home. He suggested that lenders "may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions".<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ex-fed-chief-bernanke-denied-loan-to-refinance-his-home/ |title= Ex-Fed chief Bernanke denied loan to refinance his home |publisher=Fox News |date=October 6, 2014 }}</ref>

On October 9, 2014, Bernanke testified in ''Starr v. United States,'' a lawsuit alleging that the government cheated [[American International Group]] shareholders of $40 billion by demanding a 79.9% stake in the company in exchange for the company's bailout.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Mary |date=2014-10-09 |title=Bernanke defends AIG bailout in court |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/09/aig-trial-bernanke-defends-governments-aig-bailout.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=CNBC |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> “Certainly there was an enormous amount of stress on financial institutions” in the fall of 2008 after mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had been taken over by the government and fear cascaded through financial markets," Bernanke said.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-09 |title=Bernanke defends AIG bailout in court |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-8054fb7bd7d5466b8c1233d907c03aac |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Laura |first=Farkas |date=2014-10-13 |title=Former Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke Denies Looking to Punish AIG with Bailout Terms |url=https://programbusiness.com/news/former-fed-reserve-chairman-bernanke-denies-looking-to-punish-aig-with-bailout-terms/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=ProgramBusiness {{!}} Where insurance industry clicks |language=en-US}}</ref> “We very, very much did not want to make the loan,” he said. “We had little information the loan would be effective.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Mary |date=2014-10-10 |title=Bernanke comes alive at AIG bailout trial |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/10/bernanke-comes-alive-at-aig-bailout-trial.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=CNBC |language=en}}</ref>

Since February 2014, Bernanke has been employed as a Distinguished [[Fellow]] in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the [[Brookings Institution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brookings.edu/about/media-relations/news-releases/2014/0203-bernanke-hutchins-center |title=Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Join Economic Studies at Brookings |last1=Nordquist |first1=DJ |last2=Tracy |first2=Viselli |date=February 3, 2014 |website=Brookings.edu |access-date=March 31, 2015}}</ref>

On April 16, 2015, it was announced publicly that Bernanke will work with [[Citadel LLC|Citadel]], the $25 billion hedge fund founded by billionaire [[Kenneth C. Griffin]], as a senior adviser.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Andrew Ross |last1=Sorkin |first2=Alexandra |last2=Stevenson |title=Ben Bernanke Will Work With Citadel, a Hedge Fund, as an Adviser |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/business/ben-bernanke-will-work-with-citadel-a-hedge-fund-as-an-adviser.html?_r=0 |work=The New York Times |date=April 16, 2015 |access-date=July 24, 2017}}</ref> In the same month it was revealed that Bernanke would also join [[PIMCO]] as a senior advisor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/29/pimco-recruits-ex-federal-reserve-chairman-ben-bernanke|title=Pimco recruits ex-Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke|date=April 29, 2015|website=The Guardian|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref>

In his 2015 book, ''The Courage to Act'', Bernanke revealed that he was no longer a Republican, having "lost patience with Republicans' susceptibility to the know-nothing-ism of the far right.&nbsp;... I view myself now as a moderate independent, and I think that's where I'll stay."<ref>{{cite web |first=Matt |last=Phillips |title=Bernanke: I'm not really a Republican anymore |url=http://qz.com/518111/bernanke-im-not-really-a-republican-anymore/ |work=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]] |date=October 6, 2015 |access-date=October 9, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:AEA 2025 - Benanke Romer Furman 01.jpg|thumb|[[Jason Furman]], Bernanke, and [[Christina Romer]] at AEA 2025]]

Bernanke published in 2022 his latest book titled ''21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19,'' where he assesses the successes as well as failures of the [[Federal Reserve]] since its inception. The book received a positive review from the [[The New York Times|New York Times]] saying the "book is intended to help future generations of economic policymakers, and it probably will."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leonhardt |first=David |date=2022-05-17 |title=What Is the Federal Reserve's Role in the Economy? Bernanke Knows. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/books/review/ben-s-bernanke-21st-century-monetary-policy.html |access-date=2022-05-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Statements on deficit reduction and reform of Social Security/Medicare==
Bernanke favors reducing the [[U.S. budget deficit]], particularly by reforming the [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] [[entitlement programs]]. During a speech delivered on April 7, 2010, he warned that the U.S. must soon develop a "credible" plan to address the pending [[Social Security debate (United States)#Background on funding challenges|funding crisis]] faced by "entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare" or "in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth."<ref>Bernanke, Ben S., [http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100407a.pdf "Economic Challenges:  Past, Present and Future (PDF version)"] (see pages 13–14 of the speech transcript).  Speech given on April 7, 2010, to the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, Texas. Retrieved April 15, 2010.</ref><ref>Bernanke, Ben S., [http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/20100407a.htm "Economic Challenges:  Past, Present and Future (HTML version)"] (see paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 in the "Economic Challenges" section at the end of the speech transcript).  Speech given on April 7, 2010, to the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, Texas. Retrieved April 15, 2010.</ref> Bernanke said that formulation of such a plan would help the economy in the near term, even if actual implementation of the plan might have to wait until the economic outlook improves.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Hilsenrath | first = Jon | title = Bernanke Says U.S. Should Tackle Debt | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date = April 7, 2010 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303720604575169970248763974 | access-date = April 14, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100412094053/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303720604575169970248763974.html| archive-date= April 12, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

His remarks were most likely intended for the federal government's executive and legislative branches,<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Irwin | first1 = Neil | last2 = Montgomery | first2 = Lori | title = Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounds a warning on growing deficit | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = April 8, 2010 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040703116.html?hpid=sec-business | access-date = April 14, 2010 }}</ref> since entitlement reform is a [[fiscal policy|fiscal]] exercise that will be accomplished by the [[United States Congress|Congress]] and the [[President of the United States|President]]<ref>{{Cite news | last = Samuelson | first = Robert J. | title = Let Them Go Bankrupt, Soon: Solving Social Security and Medicare | newspaper = [[Newsweek]] | date = May 23, 2009 | url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/199167 | access-date = April 15, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100418194113/http://www.newsweek.com/id/199167| archive-date= April 18, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last = Scherer | first = Michael | title = Can Obama Actually Achieve Entitlement Reform? | newspaper = Time | date = February 23, 2009 | url = http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1881223,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090225174307/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1881223,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 25, 2009 | access-date = April 15, 2010}}</ref> rather than a [[monetary policy|monetary]] task falling within the implementation powers of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke also pointed out that deficit reduction will necessarily consist of either raising taxes, cutting entitlement payments and other [[government spending]], or some combination of both.<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Chan | first1 = Sewell | last2 = Hernandez | first2 = Javier | title = Bernanke Says Nation Must Take Action Soon to Shape Fiscal Future | newspaper = The New York Times | date = April 7, 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/business/economy/08fed.html | access-date = April 14, 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100412184428/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/business/economy/08fed.html| archive-date= April 12, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

==Nobel Prize==
In 2022 Bernanke was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with [[Philip H. Dybvig]] and [[Douglas Diamond]]. Their research suggested that the Great Depression was caused by a variety of factors including credit market stress and a failing gold standard. With a rising [[External Finance Premium]] lenders and borrowers were both inclined to protect their financial health due to stressed credit markets. Lenders began tightening credit standards and avoiding risky borrowers while borrowers withdrew their cash. These self-preservation decisions from both lenders and borrowers resulted in further stress on the credit market and stagnation in investment spending. In addition to stressed credit markets, the failing gold standard also played a crucial role. After World War 1 most countries had their currencies tied to gold as well as fixed exchange rates, however, post-war animosity between many European nations led to non-cooperation regarding the gold standard. Consequently, the gold standard failed in the late 1920s, bringing prices, money supply, and output down with it. Their research showed that the combination of a failing gold standard and stressed credit markets led to a catastrophic spiral in the economy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bernanke |first=Ben S. |date=2023-05-01 |title=Nobel Lecture: Banking, Credit, and Economic Fluctuations |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.113.5.1143 |journal=American Economic Review |volume=113 |issue=5 |pages=1143–1169 |doi=10.1257/aer.113.5.1143 |issn=0002-8282|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Ben and Anna Bernanke (12241511195) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ben and Anna Bernanke]]
Bernanke met his wife, Anna, a schoolteacher, on a [[blind date]]. The Bernankes have two children, Joel and Alyssa.<ref>Grunwald, Michael (December 16, 2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20091218162656/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1947251_1947520,00.html "Ben Bernanke"]. ''Time''.</ref> He is an ardent fan of the [[Washington Nationals]] baseball team, and frequently attends games at [[Nationals Park]].<ref>Steinberg, Dan {September 27, 2012}. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/ben-bernanke-is-a-huge-nats-fan/2012/09/27/964d483c-08ba-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_blog.html "Ben Bernanke is a huge Nats fan"]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved January 21, 2014.</ref>

When Bernanke left Stanford to accept a position at Princeton, he and his family moved to [[Montgomery Township, New Jersey]], in 1985, where Bernanke's children attended the local public schools.<ref name=":1" /> Bernanke served for six years as a member of the board of education of the [[Montgomery Township School District]].<ref name=":1">Chan, Sewell. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/business/16ben.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 'Is Ben Bernanke Having Fun Yet?"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 15, 2010. Accessed February 2, 2015. "In 1985, he left Stanford for Princeton. His children — Joel, born in 1982, and Alyssa, born in 1986 — enrolled in public schools, and for six years he served on the school board in Montgomery Township, N.J."</ref>

{{anchor|Identity theft}}
In 2009, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that Bernanke was a victim of [[identity theft]], a spreading crime the Federal Reserve has for years issued warnings about.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125140624571364727|title=Bernanke Falls Victim to Identify Theft|author=Jon Hilsenrath and Brent Kendall|date=August 29, 2009|work=WSJ}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* Fellow of the [[Fellows of the Econometric Society|Econometric Society]] (1997)
* Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (2001)<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=June 24, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110725002054/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf| archive-date= July 25, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
* [[Order of the Palmetto]] (2006)<ref name=speech20060901 />
*Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (2006)<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Ben+Bernanke&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-05-24|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* Distinguished Leadership in Government Award, [[Columbia Business School]] (2008)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gsb.columbia.edu/annualdinner/ | title=Columbia Business School Annual Dinner | access-date=May 8, 2008}}</ref>
* In 2009, the [[South Carolina Department of Transportation]] (SCDOT) Commission approved a resolution on February 21 to name Exit 190 along [[Interstate 95 in South Carolina|Interstate Highway 95]] in Dillon County the ''Ben Bernanke Interchange''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.scdot.org/artman/publish/printer_828.shtml |title=Dedication Ceremony Saturday, March 7, in Dillon For "Ben Bernanke Interchange" |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120317072512/http://www.scdot.org/artman/publish/printer_828.shtml |archive-date=March 17, 2012 | date=March 2, 2009 |publisher=[[South Carolina Department of Transportation]]}}</ref>
* In 2009, he was named the [[Time Person of the Year|''Time'' magazine person of the year]].<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Michael Grunwald |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1947251_1947520,00.html |title=Person of the Year 2009 |magazine=Time |date=December 16, 2009 |access-date=January 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218162656/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1946375_1947251_1947520%2C00.html |archive-date=December 18, 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
* In 2020 he was awarded the [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards|BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] in the category "Economics, Finance and Management".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frontiers of Knowledge Awards |url=https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Premios Fronteras |language=en}}</ref>
* Member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] (2021)<ref>{{Cite web|title=2021 NAS Election|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2021-nas-election.html|date=April 26, 2021|access-date=April 27, 2021|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
* Along with [[Douglas W. Diamond]] and [[Philip H. Dybvig]], he was awarded the 2022 [[List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics|Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel]] "for research on banks and financial crises".<ref name="nobelprize.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/press-release/|title=The Prize in Economic Sciences 2022 - Press release|website=nobelprize.org|date=October 10, 2022|access-date=November 25, 2022}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal |first=Ben S.|last=Bernanke|title= Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression |journal= American Economic Review |date=June 1983 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=257–276 |jstor=1808111 }}
* {{cite journal | first1=Ben S.|last1=Bernanke|first2=Alan S.|last2=Blinder|author-link2=Alan Blinder| title= The Federal Funds Rate and the Channels of Monetary Transmission | journal= American Economic Review | date=September 1992 | volume=82 | issue=4 | pages=901–921 |jstor=2117350 }}
* {{cite journal | first1 = Ben S.|last1=Bernanke|first2=Mark|last2=Gertler|first3=Mark|last3=Watson|title=Systematic Monetary Policy and the Effects of Oil Price Shocks | journal = C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics | date=May 27, 1997|url = https://ideas.repec.org/p/cvs/starer/97-25.html}}
* {{cite book | first1=Ben S.|last1=Bernanke|first2=Thomas|last2=Laubach|author-link2=Thomas Laubach|first3=Frederic S.|last3=Mishkin|author-link3=Frederic Mishkin|first4=Adam S.|last4=Posen|author-link4=Adam Posen | title=Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2001 | isbn=0-691-08689-3 }}
* {{cite book |first=Ben S.|last=Bernanke| title=Essays on the Great Depression | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2004 | isbn=0-691-11820-5 }}<br />([http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6817.html Description], [https://web.archive.org/web/20100119050606/http://press.princeton.edu/TOCs/c6817.html TOC], and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100704124101/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6817.html preview of ch. 1, "The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression"])
* {{cite book |first1=Andrew B.|last1=Abel|author-link=Andrew B. Abel|first2=Ben S.|last2=Bernanke|first3=Dean |last3=Croushore|author-link3=Dean Croushore|title=Macroeconomics|edition=6th|publisher=Addison–Wesley|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-321-41554-7}}
* {{cite book| first2=Ben S.| last2=Bernanke| first1=Robert H.| last1=Frank| author-link=Robert H. Frank| title=Principles of Macroeconomics| publisher=McGraw–Hill| year=2007| isbn=978-0-07-336265-6| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780073336732}}
* {{cite book | first=Ben S. |last=Bernanke |title=The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=October 2015 |isbn=978-0-393-24721-3}}
* {{cite web | first=Ben S. |last=Bernanke | title= Notes from The Courage to Act |url= http://cdn.wwnorton.com/microsites/bernanke/THE%20COURAGE%20TO%20ACT%20notes.pdf |publisher= W. W. Norton & Company | date= October 2015}}
* {{cite book | first=Ben S. |last=Bernanke |title=21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=May 2022 |isbn=978-1324020462}}

==See also==
* [[Causes of the Great Depression]]
* [[Great Contraction]]
* [[Greenspan put]]
* [[2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence]]
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]
* [[Ben Bernanke’s Nobel Prize Lecture, “Banking, Credit, and Economic Fluctuations”]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=}}

==References==
* Andrews, Edmund L. (November 5, 2005). "All for a more open Fed". ''[[New Straits Times]]'', p.&nbsp;21.
* {{cite book|first=Walter|last= Bagehot|title=Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market|url=https://archive.org/details/lombardstreetde00bage|year=1873|publisher=Scribner, Armstrong & Company}}
* {{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Jacobson Schwartz|author3=National Bureau of Economic Research|title=The Great Contraction, 1929-1933|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding+the+Great+Depression+You%27re+right+We+did+it%22&pg=PP1 |year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13794-0 |page=247|chapter=B. Bernanke's speech to M. Friedman}}
* Lowenstein, Roger (January 20, 2008). [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20Ben-Bernanke-t.html?scp=2&sq=bernanke "The Education of Ben Bernanke"]. ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]''.
* Bernanke, Ben S. 2023. "Nobel Lecture: Banking, Credit, and Economic Fluctuations." American Economic Review, 113 (5): 1143–69.

==Further reading==
* [[James B. Stewart|Stewart, James B.]] (September 21, 2009). [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/21/090921fa_fact_stewart "Eight Days: the battle to save the American financial system"]. ''[[The New Yorker]]''. Pages 58–81. Summarizing September 15–23, 2008 with interviews by James Stewart of Paulson, Bernanke and Geitner.
* {{cite book|last=Bernanke|first=Ben S. |title=The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath |year=2015 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |place=New York|isbn=978-0393247213}}
*Bernanke, Ben S. (2020). [https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.110.4.943 "The New Tools of Monetary Policy"]. ''[[American Economic Review]]''. '''110''' (4): 943–83.

==External links==
{{external links|date=October 2022}}
{{sister project links|d=Q201795|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|s=no|wikt=no|c=Category:Ben Bernanke|m=no|mw=no|species=no}}
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/453 Statements and Speeches of Ben S. Bernanke]
* {{IMDb name|2573980}}
* {{C-SPAN|1001415}}
* {{NYTtopic|people/b/ben_s_bernanke}}
* [https://archive.today/20100118134816/http://unjobs.org/authors/ben-s.-bernanke Bernanke Papers and Sources] at UNJobs
* [https://ideas.repec.org/e/pbe55.html IDEAS/RePEc]
* [https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2000/09/01/a_crash_course_for_central_bankers "A Crash Course for Central Bankers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708144151/https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2000/09/01/a_crash_course_for_central_bankers |date=July 8, 2014 }} by Ben Bernanke, ''[[Foreign Policy]]'', September 1, 2000
* [https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2003/11/01/downside_danger "Downside Danger"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708154158/https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2003/11/01/downside_danger |date=July 8, 2014 }} by Ben Bernanke, ''Foreign Policy'', November 1, 2003
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110127073601/http://www.aei.org/event/1104 "Skills, Ownership, and Economic Security"], Ben Bernanke, July 12, 2005, address with summary, video, and transcript
* Lectures by Ben Bernanke to an economics class at [[George Washington University]] March 2012
** [http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21242022 "Chairman Ben Bernanke Lecture Series Part 1"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327042254/http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21242022 |date=March 27, 2012 }} Recorded live on March 20, 2012, 10:35&nbsp;am MST
** [http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21404362 "Chairman Ben Bernanke Lecture Series Part 3"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331010324/http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21404362 |date=March 31, 2012 }} Recorded live on March 27, 2012, 10:38&nbsp;am MST

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