'Macroeconomics Master' Former Fed Vice Chairman Fischer Passes Away

Stanley Fischer, a renowned macroeconomist and former Vice Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), passed away on the 31st (local time) at the age of 81.

Stanley Fischer, former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed). Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

According to Bloomberg News, the Bank of Israel announced Fischer's passing in a statement on the same day.

Born in 1943 to a Jewish family in Zambia, Africa, Fischer earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the London School of Economics and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1978, while a professor at MIT, he co-authored the textbook "Macroeconomics" with fellow professor Rudiger Dornbusch, and mentored notable figures such as Ben Bernanke, former Fed Chairman; Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank (ECB); and Gregory Mankiw, professor at Harvard University. From 1994, he served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, he visited Korea when the country applied for an IMF bailout, establishing a connection with Korea.

Fischer also ran for the position of IMF Managing Director in 2011, but was unsuccessful due to age restrictions. Although he was a U.S. citizen, he served as Governor of the Bank of Israel for eight years from 2005, responding to the global financial crisis and receiving Israeli citizenship as well. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Vice Chairman of the Fed, where he was regarded as one of the leading hawks within the institution.

Lawrence Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and one of Fischer's students, said of him, "In a just world, Stanley Fischer would have been either Fed Chairman or IMF Managing Director. While that did not happen, he influenced global finance as much as anyone in the past generation."

Ben Bernanke, former Fed Chairman, stated, "I deeply respected Stanley Fischer. He was a pioneering scholar, a devoted teacher, and a rare individual with a truly international perspective."

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