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Ben
Bernanke
is a well known American economist and
former member of the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System in the United
States. He became Chairman of the U.S.
Federal Reserve in 2006.
Ben
Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953
in Augusta, Georgia. He later moved to
Dillon, South Carolina where he grew up
under the watchful eyes of his father,
a pharmacist, and his mother, a school
teacher. The Bernankes were one of few
Jewish
families in the area and regularly attended
the local synagogue by the name of Ohav
Shalom. Young Ben Bernanke followed the
customs of his faith, learning Hebrew
from his grandfather who was also a professional
teacher of Hebrew and a Torah reader.
As
a boy, Ben Bernanke attended East Elementary
for his preliminary education followed
by J.V. Martin Junior High and Dillon
High School. Bernanke was a stellar student
and even went beyond the confines of the
classroom to teach himself calculus and
edit the school newspaper. He later graduated
as valedictorian of his class and achieved
a 1590 (out of 1600) on his SATs, the
highest SAT score in South Carolina for
that year.
After
graduating high school in 1971, Bernanke
attended Harvard College from which he
graduated in 1975 with a degree in economics.
Ben Bernanke was quick to continue his
education at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) where he received
a PhD in economics in 1979. Just after
graduation, Bernanke began teaching at
the Stanford Graduate School of Business
until 1985 when he changed schools to
teach at New York University. He continued
his teaching career at Princeton University
as a tenured professor and eventually
ended up as the chairman of the Department
Economics from 1996 until 2002.
During
his time at Princeton, Bernanke became
well known for his lectures worldwide
and even wrote three textbooks on macroeconomics
and one on microeconomics. For a time,
Bernanke even edited the American Economic
Review.
Ben
Bernanke eventually resigned from his
possition at Princeton in 2002 but continued
to work in economics. He liked to focus
on the idea of "deflation" of
the dollar and its influence over the
economy. Bernanke became known for his
beliefs that the government can prevent
deflation by simply printing more money
and therefore create "inflation".
His views were based more on monetary
policy rather than fiscal policy and Bernanke
defended his positions by stating that
politicians were hired to determine taxation
and deficits.
Bernanke
eventually became Chairman of the U.S.
President's Council of Economic Advisers
(CEA) in January 2005 and remained with
the CEA until January 2006. He was also
a member of the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve from 2002 to 2005.
President George W. Bush appointed him
as Chairman of the Federal Reserve on
October 24, 2005 and he was sworn in on
February 1, 2006. He succeeded Alan Greenspan
as Chairman of the Reserve. The chairmanship
for the Federal Reserve typically lasts
14 years.
Bernanke
lives with his wife. Together they have
two children.
This Ben Bernanke biography may
not be reproduced online.
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