Alan Blinder Quotes

"In the classic old business cycle, there would be a diminution in sales; it would take a little while for this information to reach corporate headquarters. And there would be an inventory pileup. And then - bam - businesses would react, sometimes violently, by cutting production."

"The most important thing is that strikes don't last forever. The economy is normally quite resilient and comes bouncing back."

"Public opinion is presumptively an input to policy formation in a democracy because politicians respond to it or at least are believed to respond [to it]."

"We will soon learn whether the Greenspan era has created a deep reservoir of faith in the Federal Reserve, or just in Alan Greenspan."

"It's not a lack of transparency when you stop giving information when there is nothing to give, and we're getting pretty close to that point."

"He was confident in his judgment, and he was right. The lesson is that sometimes you can't wait for the data to be definitive."

"What this illustrates is the virtue of being more plain-spoken and the dangers when you are not."

"There is a kind of a cascading chain, ... If one can't sell, then that business doesn't buy and that means the next business doesn't sell, and the previous business doesn't sell, and so on."

"His performance as chairman of the Fed has been impressive, encompassing, and overwhelmingly beneficial - to the nation, to the institution, and to the practice of monetary policy,"

"There is a kind of a cascading chain. If one can't sell, then that business doesn't buy and that means the next business doesn't sell, and the previous business doesn't sell, and so on."

"I think they're right on the curve but in danger of being behind the curve."

"While Alan Greenspan may have enjoyed more than his share of good luck during his storied tenure as Fed chairman, he was also confronted with a wide variety of challenges that required subtlety, a deft touch and good judgment."

"His performance as chairman of the Fed has been impressive, encompassing and overwhelmingly beneficial -- to the nation, to the institution and to the practice of monetary policy,"