Welcome to the Powell Fed

Washington

IT will be Powell's Fed.

Assuming he is confirmed by the Senate, Jerome ("Jay") Powell will become the 16th chairman of the Federal Reserve Board early next year, instantly becoming the most important economic policymaker in the world.

But who is he? Outside economic circles, hardly anyone knows. So let us catch up.

He would be the first non-economist to head the Fed since the disastrous appointment of G William Miller by then president Jimmy Carter in 1978. But parallels between them on these grounds would be strained. Even many economists do not believe academic credentials are essential.

Economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics, who has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, said: "Setting monetary policy (interest rates and credit conditions) in most economic envir…