Person

Frederic Mishkin

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What They Said

“So good institutions actually are very important because a good institution means that bad people still don't do a terrible job and good people do an even better job. And bad institutions are ones where even good people can do bad things.” — Frederic Mishkin, WSJ's Take On the Week

Mishkin, a former Fed governor, was asked what characterised Alan Greenspan's cryptic style of central banking. He grants that Greenspan was a maestro and that it may have worked for him, then makes the case that this is exactly the wrong thing to design around. The formulation is his argument for why transparency rules matter more than the quality of whoever currently holds the job.

WSJ's Take On the Week · 2026-08-23 Context → Listen →

Where They Turn Up

WSJ's Take On the Week 1