Opinion | + Aas to myer
The influence of Stanley Fischer
66 Larry Summers’ blog
» Ff in = Ea i | save ro myrr
Stanley Fischer announced on Wednesday that he
is leaving his position as vice-chair of the Federal
reserve. The Fed and the international monetary
system will be weaker for his departure from
official responsibility. It is the end of an era.
Stan's has been a singular career. As a professor
at Boston’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology
he coauthored, with his close friend Rudi
Dornbusch, the macro textbook that defined the
basics of the field for a generation. With Olivier
Blanchard, he wrote the treatise that defined the
state of the art for graduate students. His lectures
were models of lucid exposition and balanced
judgement. My view of monetary economics was
haped by my experience auditing his class in the Fall of 1978. Legions of central
banking greats, starting with Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi, were not just his
students but his disciples
It would have been enough but Stan was only getting started. He went from MIT to the
World Bank as chief economist. As his successor, I saw how much respect he earned
from every economist in the bank. When the US Treasury needed to suggest a deputy to
the International Monetary Fund managing director Michele Camdessus, it was
obvious to me that Stan was the right choice
Ultimately, Mr Camdessus and Stan formed a close partnership that saw the world
through the emerging markets turmoils of the 1990s. Every finance minister in the
developing world had ambivalence about the IMF but all respected, trusted and took
advice from Professor Fischer.
It would all have been more than enough. But after a brief private sector stint, it was off
to Israel where Stan ran an effective monetary policy, guided a gover
policy as its chief adviser, and remained a fixture on the international monetary scene.
After doing all that was asked, Stan returned to the USA. Before long he was at the Fed,
which has never had a more respected vice-chair. He will be sorely missed.
ment’s economic
In a just world Stan would have served at some point as Fed chairman or managing
director of the IMF. Fate is fickle and it did not happen. But through his teaching,
writing, advising and leading Stan has had as much influence on global money as
anyone in the last generation. Hundreds of millions of people have lived better because
of his efforts. It was a privilege to be his student 40 years ago and is a joy to be his
friend of four decades.