Quote

The one thing people don't appreciate, I think, is that central banking is not a new development. It's been around for a very long time.

History proves... that a smart central bank can protect the economy and the financial sector from the nastier side effects of a stock market collapse.

The job of the Central Bank is to worry.

Central bankers have had enormous responsibilities thrust on them to compensate, essentially, for the failings of the political system. And my worry is we don't have sufficient tools to do that, but we're not willing to say it.

In 1977, when I started my first job at the Federal Reserve Board as a staff economist in the Division of International Finance, it was an article of faith in central banking that secrecy about monetary policy decisions was the best policy: Central banks, as a rule, did not discuss these decisions, let alone their future policy intentions.

There's a loss of faith in the banking system that for so long has been the backbone of prosperity and growth.

The financial system has to be regulated, we have to end with the tax havens, and it's necessary that the central banks in the world should control a little bit the banks' financing because they cannot bypass a certain range of leverage.

In a mature economy like India's, which is becoming modern and a financially-oriented economy, an independent central bank, responsible central bank, is really central to success.

The Federal Reserve ranks among the most transparent central banks. We publish a summary of our balance sheet every week. Our financial statements are audited annually by an outside auditor and made public. Every security we hold is listed on the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

At the most basic level, a central bank must be clear and open about its actions and operations, particularly when they involve the deployment of public funds.