...Second, Ralph Nader decided to enter the debate on monetary policy recently with an open letter to Janet Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve. It was, to be charitable, a rather confused missive — and confusing enough that history may rate Mr. Nader as a more successful presidential candidate than economist. But the real clunker came with his advice to Ms. Yellen that “I think that you should sit down with your Nobel Prize-winning husband George Akerlof.” His directive continued: “Together, figure out what to do.”
It is not clear why Ms. Yellen would need her husband’s help to do this. She is an accomplished economist in her own right, and arguably the most powerful economist in the world. Moreover, if Ms. Yellen needed help figuring anything out, she would be unlikely to need to rely on her husband, as she has hundreds of Ph.D. economists working for her. And while Mr. Akerlof is a brilliant economic theorist — indeed, he is one of my favorite economists — he would be the first to admit that he is not a leading authority on monetary policy.Read more in the NYT.
Thanks, +Corinne Grzybowski
