{"id":8470,"date":"2010-01-12T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=8470"},"modified":"2011-05-31T11:42:40","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T15:42:40","slug":"when-stockton-speaks-bernanke-listens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/01\/when-stockton-speaks-bernanke-listens\/","title":{"rendered":"When Stockton Speaks, Bernanke Listens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>David<\/a>
David Stockton \u201976 (CLAS).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke speaks about economic issues, the nation listens. But who does Bernanke listen to?<\/p>\n

One person on the shortlist is David J. Stockton \u201976 (CLAS), \u201976 MA, who speaks almost daily with Bernanke in his role as chief economist for the Fed, the agency that directs the nation\u2019s central bank, establishes national monetary policy and monitors the country\u2019s economic health.<\/p>\n

As director of the Federal Reserve\u2019s Division of Research and Statistics, Stockton oversees one of the world\u2019s largest economic research teams \u2013 approximately 290 economists, financial analysts, computer scientists, research assistants, and other personnel. Stockton and his staff sort through and interpret information streaming from the country\u2019s financial markets each day.<\/p>\n

One of Stockton\u2019s primary responsibilities is presenting periodic economic forecasts to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on job losses, housing, wealth, and business spending. These reports help to determine how much you pay in interest on your credit card and how much banks may charge you for taking out a home or auto loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I recognize that being surrounded on a daily basis by scores of economists might be viewed by most people as more of a sentence than a reward, the intellectual energy, debate, and discussions make it a very exciting place to work,\u201d Stockton says with his trademark good humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid\u2019s wise counsel, keen insight, and deep knowledge of the economy have proved invaluable to me and the other members of the Federal Open Market Committee through the years, but most especially during the recent time of financial turmoil,\u201d Bernanke says in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

Stockton has served three Fed chairmen appointed by the White House, starting in 1981 with Paul A. Volcker, then Alan Greenspan, and now Bernanke. His economic forecasts are critical in helping the Federal Reserve set national public policy, although he admits that his work is, in many ways, an inexact science. Each forecast comes with a full explanation of the risks and uncertainties surrounding it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat economists don\u2019t know about how the economy operates dwarfs what we do know,\u201d Stockton says. \u201cOur research program is intended to chip away at the margins of our ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockton fondly recalls his days studying at UConn under the guidance of professors Alpha Chiang, William McEachern, William Lott, and Dennis Heffley in the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Although more than 30 years have passed, all of Stockton\u2019s economics instructors remember him well. Heffley says Stockton quickly distinguished himself from his peers and seemed destined to succeed in the economics field.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid took my graduate seminar in Urban and Regional Economics. His performance in that class still ranks as the best I\u2019ve seen in my 36 years of teaching,\u201d Heffley says. \u201cIt was pretty clear to all of us that David was destined for bigger things \u2026 I\u2019ve always felt a little more comfortable about our monetary policy, simply knowing that people like David have played a key role in guiding the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

McEachern, who served as Stockton\u2019s faculty advisor, remembers pushing the underclassman to take more advanced classes. Stockton rose to the challenge, succeeding in graduate-level courses with such aplomb that he was honored as a University Scholar. Stockton credits McEachern with using \u201cpatience, persistence, and humor\u201d to encourage him to pursue a prestigious Danforth Fellowship, which ultimately funded his doctoral studies at Yale University.<\/p>\n

The Stockton family\u2019s public service can be traced back to the nation\u2019s founding. Ancestor Richard Stockton of New Jersey was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. More recently, David\u2019s father, Edward, served as mayor of Bloomfield, Conn., and as commissioner of economic development in Connecticut under both Gov. Ella T. Grasso and Gov. William A. O\u2019Neill. In addition to David, the family\u2019s UConn connection includes his wife, Judy (Shenkman) \u201976 (ED), \u201981 MA.<\/p>\n

Stockton says the evolution of the global economy and vast improvements in computer technology have added complexity to his job over the years, while the current financial crisis has caused new challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may take some time for a more robust recovery to take hold, as households and businesses adjust to the severe financial shock that has hit the global economy,\u201d Stockton says. \u201cI am confident that we will collectively make the necessary adjustments and emerge from the current difficulties with a stronger and more resilient economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alumnus David Stockton is director of the Federal Reserve\u2019s Division of Research and Statistics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-8470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 06:48:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8470"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36191,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8470\/revisions\/36191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8470"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=8470"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}