Alex J. Pollock

Alex J. Pollock is the Principal Deputy Director in the Office of Financial Research, U.S. Treasury. Previously a distinguished senior fellow at the R Street Institute in Washington, D.C., he is the author of Finance and Philosophy: Why We're Always Surprised.

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Should the Fed Be Run by Economists?

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell looks on as President Trump speaks in the Rose Garden on November 2nd, 2017. Credit: Alex Edelman/CNP /MediaPunch
Perhaps inside every macroeconomist is a philosopher-king trying to get out?

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Actually, Sovereigns Do Go Broke

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A crowd of pensioners outside a branch of the National Bank in Thessaloniki, Greece on July 1, 2015 (Ververidis Vasilis / Shutterstock.com).
The cycle of sovereign borrowing, default, and new borrowing has a long and continuing history.

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Lest We Forget

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Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former president of the New York Federal Reserve and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. Image: Ben Hethcoat / Marketplace.org
Bernanke, Geithner, and Paulson tell their story: "For all our crisis experience, we failed to anticipate the worst crisis of our lifetimes."

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Steering Central Banking Past Scylla and Charybdis (the Technocrats and the Politicians)  

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Headquarters of the Federal Reserve, Washington, DC (MDogan/Shutterstock.com).
Although they are monetary and economic experts, do central banks have the requisite knowledge to succeed?

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What Does the Fed Know that Nobody Else Knows?

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell looks on as President Trump speaks in the Rose Garden on November 2nd, 2017. Credit: Alex Edelman/CNP /MediaPunch
Central banks usually feel the urge to pretend to know more than they can, in order to inspire “confidence” in themselves.

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The Inescapably Political World of Banking and Finance

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Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Frontpage / Shutterstock.com).
Both banks and governments often make big mistakes at forecasting the economic and financial future.

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In Finance, the Blind Spots Will Always Be With You

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Financial risk will always be with us (Image: gopixel / shutterstock.com).
There are no financial philosopher-kings and there can never be any, in central banks or anywhere else.

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Perpetual Inflation vs. Sound Money

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United States Federal Reserve Bank building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. (Rob Crandall / Shutterstock.com).
Modern central banks keep attempting to manipulate prices to a different and “better” outcome than the market would provide, but what does this achieve?

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Knowledge, Risk, and the Surprised Banker: A Conversation with Alex Pollock

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Alex Pollock discusses the philosophy of finance and why the quant guys keep getting it wrong.

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The Great Waves of Industrial Innovation

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GaudiLab/Shutterstock.com
Innovation offers the greatest engine for growth the world has ever seen, but why do so few people realize how good we have it?

About

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