ben s bernanke : panel discussion - the transition from academic to policymaker remarks by mr ben s bernanke, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the annual meeting of the american economic association, philadelphia, 7 january 2005. * * * i appreciate the opportunity to reflect on my two and a half years as an academic turned policymaker. one difference i have noticed since moving to washington is that people seem to find my ideas and insights of greater interest than they used to - although, so far as i know, i have not become any smarter in the past few years. this increase in interest is particularly marked in regard to my views on current policy issues and the economic outlook. so, for the sake of truth in advertising, i should say at the outset that i will not be commenting on current issues today, except in the most general terms. instead, keeping with the theme of this panel, i will offer a few thoughts on my transition from academia to the policy world - in particular, how the former experience has prepared me for the latter. obviously, i will be speaking for myself and not the federal reserve board. i should also note that my policy experience has been limited to my time at the federal reserve - in some ways, a unique institution in washington - and may not generalize to other contexts. i always thought i would be an academic lifer. i went straight to graduate school from college and never considered any job other than an academic position when i graduated. before i was appointed to the board of governors in august 2002, my adult work experience consisted of six years teaching at stanford ’ s graduate school of business, seventeen years at princeton ( a joint appointment in the economics department and the woodrow wilson school of public policy ), and several years spent as a visiting faculty member at other institutions, including mit ( my graduate alma mater ). the sum of my political experience consisted of two terms on the local school board, six grueling years during which my fellow board members and i were trashed alternately by angry parents and angry taxpayers. on the administrative side, i served seven years as the chair of the princeton economics department, where i had responsibility for major policy decisions such as whether to serve bagels or doughnuts at the department coffee hour. academia appealed to me as a young person because of the freedom it offered to explore old ideas and develop new ones. i also liked the relaxed dress code. the biggest downside of my

final quarter after a pause in september 2011. the steady rise in the shares of direct foreign investments and long - term borrowing in the financing of the current account deficit continues. we believe that further slowing down of the current pace of growth, especially in consumer loans, in the rest of the year would contribute to the sustainability of the rebalancing of domestic and external demand. thus, the rise in the private sector ’ s propensity to save in turkey will ensure a more rapid and sound correction in the current account deficit. in the upcoming period, effective liquidity management through the interest rate corridor will become an important policy instrument that will also contribute to financial stability. distinguished members of the press, now, in order to provide more detailed information on the price stability pillar of the framework that i have just mentioned, i would like to share with you the main messages of the october inflation report. the report typically summarizes our evaluations on macroeconomic developments and presents our revised medium - term inflation forecasts, along with our monetary policy stance. in addition to the main sections of the report, we have provided nine boxes that analyze various topics. these boxes, like usual, evaluate the findings of studies on some interesting current topics. for instance, we have a box on the crisis and debt sustainability in the euro area. also, we have boxes that elaborate two popular topics that have been occupying the top of the agenda for some time. in one of these boxes, the method of taxing tobacco products and its impact on consumer prices is analyzed, while in the second box, we share our current forecasts on exchange rates and import price pass - through. you can see titles of other boxes on the other slide. all of them contain informative analyses on the turkish economy. these boxes will be published shortly on our website ; i recommend you to read them. distinguished members of the press, global economic developments have been influential on our policies for quite a long time. therefore, in the first part of my speech, i would like to continue with a brief summary of these developments. in the third quarter of 2011, mounting concerns regarding sovereign debt sustainability across the euro area, coupled with the slower - than - expected recovery in u. s. real estate and labor markets intensified the downside risks regarding global economic activity. accordingly, global economic activity forecasts were revised downwards and expectations for a further delay in the normalization of monetary policy in advanced economies grew stronger. mounting uncertainties regarding the global economy