Ben Bernanke Rice Quotations

When historical relationships are taken into account, it is difficult to ascribe the house price bubble either to monetary policy or to the broader macroeconomic environment.

Sector-specific price declines, uncomfortable as they may be for producers in that sector, are generally not a problem for the economy as a whole and do not constitute deflation.

High energy prices are burdening household budgets and raising production costs, and continued increases would at some point restrain economic growth.

This step would in no way reduce the importance of maximum employment as a policy goal, ... In any case, I assure this committee that if I am confirmed, I will take no precipitate steps in the direction of quantifying the definition of long-run price stability. This matter requires further study at the Federal Reserve as well as extensive discussion and consultation.

can account for the bulk of the recent increase in the real price of gold.

A collapse in U.S. stock prices certainly would cause a lot of white knuckles on Wall Street.

I will maintain the focus on long-term price stability as monetary policy's greatest contribution to general economic prosperity and maximum employment,

Providing quantitative guidance about the meaning of 'long-term price stability' could have several advantages, including further reducing public uncertainty about monetary policy and anchoring long-term inflation expectations even more effectively,

The high energy prices are certainly burdening consumer budgets, they are burdening cost structures of firms and certainly continued increases in energy prices are a risk for economic growth going forward.

Thus far, at least, the growth effects of energy price increases appear relatively modest.

I think it's generally a bad idea for the Fed to be the arbiter of asset prices. The Fed doesn't really have any better information than other people in the market about what the correct value of asset prices is.

Those high oil prices are a burden on U.S. families, on firms' production costs. But the good news is that at least so far the U.S. economy has not been slowed by the high energy prices.

Unfortunately there's nothing, really, that can be done that's going to affect energy prices or gasoline prices in the very short run.

to return to levels consistent with price stability in coming quarters.

The inflation objective is explicitly a long-term or medium term objective. It focuses on, for example, core inflation to avoid getting involved in short-term fluctuations in energy prices and the like.

When prices are stable, people can hold money for transactions and other purposes without having to worry that inflation will eat away at the real value of their money balances.

Since World War II, inflation - the apparently inexorable rise in the prices of goods and services - has been the bane of central bankers.

A further jump in energy prices or a more pronounced reaction to those increases in prices that have already occurred could test the strength of the expansion,

Equally important, stable prices allow people to rely on the dollar as a measure of value when making long-term contracts, engaging in long-term planning or lending for long periods.

I do think there is some chance we will see increased private sector savings in the next year or two if housing prices were to moderate.

Imperfect substitutability of assets implies that changes in the supplies of various assets available to private investors may affect the prices and yields of those assets.

As we look ahead, core inflation appears likely to remain in the zone of price stability during the remainder of 2004 and into 2005,

I don't fully understand movements in the gold price

It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.

Nobody really understands gold prices and I don't pretend to understand them either,

These inflation effects should fade even if energy prices remain elevated, so long as monetary policy keeps inflation expectations well-anchored.

At this point, a leveling out or a modest softening of housing activity seems more likely than a sharp contraction, although significant uncertainty attends the outlook for home prices and construction.