Author Archives: jfrankel

The Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership

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Feb. 13, 2018 — Congratulations to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who retired in January 2018 after 12 years as President of Liberia, for winning the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.  It is for this that the award, which pays $5 million, was originally established.

The Prize is a fascinating experiment.   Some have criticized the fact that in a majority of years nobody has been found worthy.   But I wrote a favorable evaluation in “The Ibrahim Prize for Excellence Among African Leaders,” published in 2014 in the African Policy Journal. read more

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Federal Reserve Notes: Rich Clarida Rocks

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Richard Clarida is one of the candidates for Fed Vice Chair who is most actively under the consideration by the Administration. His obvious qualifications are an outstanding academic reputation (Columbia University and the NBER), experience in government (in the George W. Bush Treasury) and now ten years of experience in the financial markets (at PIMCO).  But some might be interested in a talent that is less widely known: Rock music performer.

I first became aware of Rich when he was still a grad student, playing rhythm guitar and singing in a convincing Beatles tribute band that performed in Harvard Square. Over the years he has recorded an oeuvre of songs – some of them at the Beatles’ old Abbey Road studio.  He released a CD under the name Time No Changes in 2016.  He composes the songs, writes the lyrics and sings the vocals, backed by an assembled group of studio musicians.  You can get the individual songs on Spotify, but I have just listened to the CD. read more

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Three Candidates for Fed Vice-Chair

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It will be tough to fill the shoes of Stan Fischer as Fed vice-chair.  The candidates most actively under consideration by the Administration, to serve as number 2 to Jay Powell (who has just been confirmed as Chair), are Rich Clarida, Larry Lindsey, and John Williams.  Clarida and Williams are both excellent economists; either one would be great for this job.

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