What do you do after you win the Treasury Medal for distinguished service? For Columbia University professor of economics and international affairs Richard Clarida, the answer was to become global strategic adviser for Pimco and continue teaching at Columbia. The former assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy under George W. Bush won the rarely bestowed honor for his work at Treasury during the period immediately after the dotcom bust and terrorist attacks. (His first day on the job at Treasury was September 11, 2001).
Clarida discusses how the Federal Reserve was successful in unfreezing credit markets during the great financial crisis. He observes, however, that they likely over-extended their emergency settings for several years past when it was absolutely necessary. This has had the result of distorting financial markets. The FOMC in his opinion remain far too accommodative and for too long. What we have taken to calling “normalization” is a process that is long overdue.
All of the books he references can be found here.
You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras, on iTunes, Soundcloud, Overcast, and Bloomberg. Our earlier podcasts can all be found on iTunes, Soundcloud, Overcast and Bloomberg.
Next week, we chat with Matt Wallaert, a behavioral psychologist and entrepreneur who was a director at Microsoft Ventures.
