Road To the Fed’s Chair: Summer’s Out; Unfortunately, Romer’s Not In

After Larry Summers retreat, Janet Yellen seems to be the clear candidate for the Fed’s chair.

In order to spice up the debate, we started a little poll among our contributors.

Brazilian economist Marcus Nunes thinks the best fit for the job is Christina Romer. He also quotes Slate’s Matt Yglesias in his blog:

“Former White House Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Romer isn’t under consideration to run the Federal Reserve and never has been. There are reasons for this, and they’re not all terrible reasons. But there are three very good reasons that she ought to be a—if not the—leading contender for the job”, Iglesias said.

In July, The Atlantic’s Matthew O’Brian wrote:

“Fed number two Janet Yellen is the odds-on favorite to replace Bernanke, and would be a very good choice, but Christina Romer would be a better one. Now, Yellen has been quietly pushing the Fed to evolve towards a quasi-NGDP target, but doing so quietly half-defeats the point. Romer understands you have to scream it — and back it up — to get people’s attention. And you have to keep screaming it — and keep backing it up — until it’s just background noise.”

But there are more names on the table. Some members of The Corner Team are strongly betting on Stanley Fisher. What if all this was a manoeuvre from the Fed? What if Fisher was the real best choice?, they argue. You can read last week’s op-ed here.

*Image by AP.