Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Commentary Blogs -> Economics of Contempt

Legal Commentary

: Economics of Contempt

WSJ: Dudley likely to be NY Fed President

By Anonymous

Now that the Senate has confirmed Geithner, we'll find out who the new President of the New York Fed will be (an extremely powerful position). The WSJ says it's likely to be William Dudley, who currently runs the NY Fed's markets desk:

Mr. Geithner's confirmation will free the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to announce his successor as president of the regional Fed bank.

William Dudley, a former Goldman Sachs economist who runs the New York Fed's influential markets desk, is likely to get the job. An announcement could come as early as Tuesday.

The New York Fed is the Federal Reserve's eyes and ears to Wall Street, and the markets' desk has been in charge of implementing many of the Fed's new lending and investment programs, making the job one of the most important in central banking.

The choice of Mr. Dudley gives the New York Fed an assurance of continuity at a tumultuous time at the bank. Several of the Fed's biggest programs -- including one aimed at boosting the consumer loan market and another supporting mortgages -- are still in the process of being ramped up.

Mr. Dudley is known inside the Fed and at Goldman as a tenacious pragmatist who has logged long hours during the financial crisis and developed a strong relationship with Mr. Geithner. His elevation to the top job at the New York Fed also gives him a bigger voice in monetary policy, since he will be a regular voting member on interest-rate decisions.

I don't know anything about Dudley, but I trust Geithner's judgment. Dudley's bio is here. Unfortunately, the selection of Dudley will undoubtedly bring the Goldman conspirasists out of the woodwork yet again.

Full post as published by Economics of Contempt on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).