Â鶹APP

10 Amazing Facts about Stanley Fischer

Stanley Fischer in 2010 as the Governor Bank of Israel. Photo by By World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland.

Stanley Fischer is an accomplished  American Economist of Israeli origin.

Born in the British Colony of Rhodesia to Jewish parents, he immigrated to Israel and later America.
He is among the highly accomplished monetary economists and is even considered to be among the fathers of New Keynesian economics.
He has influenced monetary policy management in the world through his, publication works, as an economics professor and influence in the central banking and development economics circles.
He is the most revered governor of the bank of Israel, who is accredited as the first central banker to steer and manage his country out of the 2008 financial crisis.

1 He was Born in Africa- Zambia

He was born Stanley(Shlomo) Fischer on October 15, 1943, into a Jewish family in Mazabuka, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), where his parent Philip and Ann Fischer ran a small grocery shop in the township. His family moved to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) when he was 13 years, where he became active in the Habonim Zionist youth movement.

2 He visited Israel for the First Time in 1960 on a Summer Program

As part of a winter program for youth in the movement, Fischer visited Israel for the first time in 1960 where he learned Hebrew at Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael.

3 He Studied at the Prestigious London School of Economics

Department of Economics and the International Growth Centre at 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Photo by Alastair Campbell.

Fischer planned to join the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he intended to study chemistry. However during the same time, while visiting a friend whose brother had just returned from the London School of Economics he encountered some of Paul Samuelson’s books, one of the re-known economic scholars at the time, these materials influenced him to switch to study economics and managed to get a scholarship from the London School of economics. He took the B.Sc. (Econ) and M.Sc. (Econ) at the London School of Economics from 1962-1966.

4 He is the most accomplished Head of the Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Fischer obtained his Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 1969 where his thesis was supervised by Franklin Marvin Fisher and he started his career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago until 1973 when he returned to the MIT Department of Economics as an Associate Professor.
He became a Professor of Economics in 1977 and also served as a Killian Professor and the Head of the Department of Economics at MIT, during this time he also became an American Citizen.
He held a visiting position at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and at the Hoover Institution at Stanford.
As a professor at MIT — arguably the best economics department in the world — he helped found a school of economic thought that has come to dominate departments and central banks across the world.

He has advised thesis of top-notch graduate students who have gone on top jobs in the policy world, they include Shalom Bernanke, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, and former Chief White House economist, Greg Mankiw.

5 He is married to Rhoda Fischer

Fischer was married to Rhoda Fischer, whom he met during his days in Habonim. The couple has three children. When they moved to Israel, Rhoda became honorary president of Aleh Negev, a rehabilitation village for the disabled. Rhoda Fischer passed away in 2020. Rhoda Fischer passed away in 2020.

6 He served as the deputy president at Citibank

He served as the deputy president of Citibank group from February 2002 through April 2005, where he was also Head of the Public Sector Group from February 2004 to April 2005, Chairman of the Country Risk Committee, and President of Citigroup International.

7 He was the Brain Behind the Highly Criticized “Washington Consensus” Policies

President Suharto resigns, on 21 May 1998. Due to Economic Crises. Photo by Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.

He served as, vice president, development economics, and the 6th Chief Economist, at the World Bank during his tenure he is known to have emphasized the importance of establishing a stable macroeconomic environment and sound financial institutions for achieving the key long-run goals of growth and economic development
They developed a myriad of development policies that were aimed at poverty reduction through increased growth rate, which collectively became known as the Washington Consensus policies by their critics. Though they were highly criticized they proved successful in the long run.

8 He is the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

IMF Headquarters, Washington, DC. Photo By International Monetary Fund .

Fischer was the first-ever deputy managing director of the IMF a position introduced in September 1994 and he served through to August 2001 and later as Special Adviser to the Managing Director from September 1, 2001, until January 31, 2002.
During his tenure at the IMF that he is remembered for helping contain the Asian economic crisis of 1998, especially in Thailand and Korea that fully recovered after implementing his proposed monetary policies.

9 He is the First Economist to Manage Two Different Countries Central banks

Bank of Israel headquarters in Jerusalem. Photo by Ester Inbar.

In 2014 Barack Obama appointed Stanley Fischer the Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve System making him the first economist two lead to countries’ central bank.
Fischer had previously served as the Governor of the Bank of Israel, he took the position on May 1, 2005, replacing David Klein. A position he would serve until June 2013 when he stepped down.
Fischer was not new to Israel’s Economy as he had been involved in the past with the Bank of Israel, having served as an American government adviser to Israel’s economic stabilization program in 1985.
During his tenure in the two institutions, he was applauded for his sound advice on monetary policy interventions during economic downturns.

10 He is an accomplished author of Macroeconomics

Stanley Fisher is an accomplished author with his first work that pushed him to fame being Long-Term Contracts, Rational Expectations, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule being a contribution to limits of policy effectiveness proposition that prayed a significant role in uniting neo-classical and Keynesian Economists.
He also authored three books that have become common references for those studying economics, they are namely Macro Economics, Lectures on Macro-Economics, and Introductory Economics.
After the world financial crisis, Fischer authored an informative article on economic crisis management IMF Essays from a Time of Crisis: The International Financial System, Stabilization, and Development which is highly referenced material by central bankers and saw Fischer become a major speaker in major events on the great depression.