Ben Bernanke has ended his term as the chairman of Federal Reserve and he immediately began his new job at the Brookings Institution, getting back to work just three days after ending his tenure as head of the world’s most powerful central bank. Bernanke, who led the U.S. central bank in its aggressive efforts to right the economy after the financial crisis and pull it out of the recession, joined the centrist policy think tank in Washington as a distinguished fellow in residence. Bernanke, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush as Fed chairman in 2006, gaveled his final policy-setting meeting last week, at which the central bank continued its winding down of the controversial and massive bond-buying program that was Bernanke’s signature strategy to jump-start the tepid recovery. He was succeeded as Fed chairman by Janet Yellen, the former vice chair who was sworn in on Monday morning. Brookings is home to a number of other former Fed officials, including Donald Kohn, the vice chair who preceded Yellen. The institution, home also to scholars on a vast range of topics from climate change to refugee resettlement, prides itself as politically nonpartisan and having members on the left and right, although some see it as somewhat left of center. Bernanke, a former Princeton University professor, is expected to write a book and has brought along one of his top Fed press deputies, David Skidmore, to help with editing and research. There are no formal restrictions on his speech now that he is in the private sector, though like any other Fed official he is barred from disclosing confidential information.
