Few people have straddled the worlds of academia and policymaking as nimbly as Ben Bernanke has. The Princeton University economist became an influential Fed governor two years ago. Now he has found another outlet for his prodigious energy: editing the International Journal of Central Banking, a quarterly to be launched next spring by the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements and other leading banks. Each issue will feature articles on central bank topics and run about 250 pages.
“The idea is to foster unrestricted intellectual exchange,” says Bernanke. “It’ll improve policymaking to have a better exchange and to have better exposure to central banking ideas around the world.” The magazine will be free on the Internet and sold in print at cost.
Bernanke is an old hand at wielding an editor’s pencil -- and at multitasking. Before joining the Fed he was editor of the American Economic Review while teaching a full course load. But given the journal’s central bank backers, will it ever challenge the reigning orthodoxy? “Absolutely,” vows Bernanke.
