MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Federal Reserve member decides to return to academia

Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin will leave at the end of August and return to teaching at Columbia University, the United States central bank announced Wednesday.

Mishkin, who has been on the Fed board since Sept. 5, 2006, submitted his resignation to President Bush. His exit leaves the Fed with just four of its seven board seats filled. During his time on the Board, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs and as a member of the Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Affairs and the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs. "Rick's contributions to the intellectual underpinnings of monetary policy at the Federal Reserve have been invaluable," said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. "His keen insights, deep analysis and humor have enriched our deliberations." Mishkin, 57, will return to Columbia University's Graduate School of Business as a professor of economics and resume teaching in the fall, the Fed said. The Fed's meeting on Aug. 5 will be Mishkin's last. An author of more than 15 books, Mishkin's academic research has focused on how monetary policy affects financial markets and the economy at large. "It has been a great privilege to serve my country in this capacity," Mishkin wrote in his resignation letter to the president. His departure comes as the Fed has been working urgently to help the economy recover from the blows of the housing slump, a painful credit crunch and market turmoil. Before joining the Board, Mishkin was the Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, from 1999 to 2006. In addition, he has taught at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Princeton University. Since last September the Federal Reserve has carried out an aggressive rate-cutting campaign to prop the US economy. It also has taken a number of unconventional steps to help banks and investment houses overcome credit problems and help ease stresses in financial markets. As Fed chief Benanke, Mishkin favored establishing an inflation target for the US central bank policy plus quarterly reports instead of the biannual books.