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

Ben Bernanke

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More quotes by Ben Bernanke

If you are asking me if I would advocate that the Chinese go to greater flexibility in their exchange rate, I certainly would.

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.

It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.

Education - lifelong education for everyone - from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers - is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole.

Speaking as somebody who has been happily married for 35 years, I can't imagine any choice more consequential for a lifelong journey than the choice of a traveling companion.

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.

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

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

Among the largest banks, the capital ratios remain good and I don’t expect any serious problems . . . . among the large, internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system.

I am very proud of my nerd-dom.

Under a cold turkey strategy, at each policy meeting the Federal Open Market Committee would make its best guess about where it ultimately wants the funds rate to be and would move to that rate in a single step.

To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.

The benefit of appointing a hawkish central banker is the increased inflation-fighting credibility that such an appointment brings.

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.