Federal Reserve board chairman Ben Bernanke was cautiously optimistic about the economy at the annual meeting of the America economic association in Philadelphia today.
Economists including Ben Bernanke, a former chairman of the Fed and a new Nobel laureate, estimate lags between monetary policy and inflation can last as long as two years.
" Moreover, besides having adverse effects on jobs and incomes, a slower recovery would lead to less actual deficit reduction in the short run, " said Bernanke.
Mr. Bernanke told the gathering certral bankers and academics that the FED would be taking additional steps to prompt a stronger recovery. Here is Andrew Walker.
On this point, readers are likely to find Mr Bernanke's book unsatisfactory, probably because it was written before the extent of the problem became clear.
In June the Fed's chairman, Ben Bernanke, explained that he expected to have stopped buying bonds altogether when America's unemployment rate fell to 7%.
Private payrolls are growing more quickly, total hours have increased, the rate of filings and new claims for unemployment insurance has fallen, and the unemployment rate has continued to tick down, Bernanke said.