The Fed Was Built on Non-Ph.Ds Like Warsh

See, for example, the central bank buildings named for Marriner Eccles and William McChesney Martin.

Published in The Wall Street Journal.

“The dumbest criticism,” as your editorial rightly says, of the good pick of Kevin Warsh for Federal Reserve chairman is that he “doesn’t have an economics Ph.D” (“Warsh Is the Right Fed Choice,” Jan. 31). That criticism also displays a total ignorance of Fed history. For example, the Washington headquarters of the Fed are named after Marriner Eccles, who was Fed chairman for 14 years, 1934-1948. Not only did Eccles not have a Ph.D. in economics, he never went to a university, but learned on the job as a successful banker and investor.

The nearby Fed building is named after William McChesney Martin, probably the greatest Fed chairman in my view, who served under five U.S. presidents from 1951 to 1970. Martin had a B.A., having studied English and Latin. The justly celebrated Paul Volcker, central banking hero and Fed chairman from 1979 to 1987, had an M.A. in political economy, but no Ph.D. And as you imply, the new chairman of the Fed will have hundreds of Ph.D.s at his beck and call for whatever studies he may desire.

Alex J. Pollock

Senior fellow, Mises Institute