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If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.

Ben Bernanke

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Born: December 13

Ben Shalom Bernanke

Benjamin Shalom Bernanke

More quotes by Ben Bernanke

The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand.. a drop in spending so severe that producers must cut prices on an ongoing basis in order to find buyers.

I and others were mistaken early on in saying that the subprime crisis would be contained. The causal relationship between the housing problem and the broad financial system was very complex and difficult to predict.

Economics is a very difficult subject. I've compared it to trying to learn how to repair a car when the engine is running.

Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much.

In the future, my communications with the public and with the markets will be entirely through regular and formal channels.

With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.

The economic repercussions of a stock market crash depend less on the severity of the crash itself than on the response of economic policymakers, particularly central bankers.

The financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again.

The risk exists that, with aggregate demand exhibiting considerable momentum, output could overshoot its sustainable path, leading ultimately in the absence of countervailing monetary policy action to further upward pressure on inflation.

If you are not happy with yourself, even the loftiest achievements won't bring you much satisfaction.

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have - great universities. We have entrepreneurs.

I assure this committee that, if I am confirmed, I will be strictly independent of all political influences... essential to that institution's ability to function effectively and achieve its mandated objectives.

I am very proud of my nerd-dom.

I don't see much evidence of an equity bubble.

Life is amazingly unpredictable any 22-year-old who thinks they know where they will be in 10 years, much less in 30, is simply lacking imagination.

We do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system.

Over the years, the U.S. economy has shown a remarkable ability to absorb shocks of all kinds, to recover, and to continue to grow.

Our mission, as set forth by the Congress is a critical one: to preserve price stability, to foster maximum sustainable growth in output and employment, and to promote a stable and efficient financial system that serves all Americans well and fairly.