WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – For U.S. President Joe Biden to be true to his agenda he should not renominate Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair, Nobel prize-winning economist and longtime Democratic adviser Joseph Stiglitz said in an interview that laid out the case for a remake of the Fed’s leadership.
“People have given Powell a lot of kudos because he has supported the economy through the pandemic…On one hand I agree with that,” Stiglitz, now a Columbia University professor, said in a Friday phone interview with Reuters.
“On the other hand that is a bare minimum for qualification. Almost anybody reasonable would have done something similar,” Stiglitz said of the near-zero interest rates and monthly bondbuying Powell has maintained since March of 2020.
Rather, Biden should look at Powell’s looser approach to financial regulation, his reluctance to build climate-related issues into the Fed’s bank oversight, and check his “gut” on whether Powell would be as committed to full employment if inflation remains stronger than expected.