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Richard Clarida
Richard Clarida
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Richard Harris Clarida (born May 18, 1957) is an American economist who served as the 21st Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2018 to 2022. Clarida resigned his post on January 14, 2022, to return from public service leave to teach at Columbia University for the spring term of 2022. He is the C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University and, from 2006 until September 2018 and from October 2022 to the present, a Global Strategic Advisor for PIMCO. He is notable for his contributions to dynamic stochastic general equilibrium theory and international monetary economics. He is a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and is a recipient of the Treasury Medal. He also was a proponent of the theory that inflation was transitory during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Key Information

Education

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Clarida received his Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Illinois with Bronze Tablet honors, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Harvard University. In October 2018 he received the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois.

Academic career and research contributions

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Since 1988, Clarida has taught in the economics and international affairs programs at Columbia University, where he is the C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics. From 1997 until 2001, Clarida served as chairman of the Department of Economics at Columbia University. Earlier in his career, he had been a member of the Cowles Foundation at Yale University.

Clarida's research centers on dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling, a branch of applied general equilibrium theory that is influential in contemporary macroeconomics and optimal monetary policy, especially through the lens of time-series analysis. His studies with Jordi Galí and Mark Gertler suggest that monetary policy in many countries today resembles a forward-looking Taylor rule, whereas the policy makers of the 1970s failed to follow such a forward-looking Taylor rule.[3]

Clarida has published numerous frequently cited articles in leading academic journals on monetary policy, exchange rates, interest rates, and international capital flows. He is frequently invited to present his research to the world's leading central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the ECB, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan. He has written on the monetary policy implications of the low-inflation period created by the 2008 financial crisis.[4] He also introduced in 2014 the concept of a "new neutral" for American monetary policy which predicted a substantial decline in r*, the interest rate consistent with full employment and stable inflation. Whereas before the crisis r* was thought to be above 4 percent, Clarida wrote in 2014 that r* was now closer to 2 percent than to 4 percent.

Other professional achievements

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Clarida served as the Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury for Economic Policy, a position that required confirmation by the United States Senate. In that position, he served as chief economic advisor to two Treasury Secretaries, Paul O'Neill and John W. Snow, advising them on economic policy issues, including U.S. and global economic prospects, international capital flows, corporate governance, and the maturity structure of U.S. debt. In May 2003, Snow awarded Clarida the Treasury Medal "in recognition of his outstanding service".[5]

Clarida has served as a consultant to several prominent financial firms, including the Global Foreign Exchange Group at Credit Suisse First Boston and Grossman Asset Management. From 2006 to 2018, he was Global Strategic Advisor with PIMCO and in 2015 was named managing director with the firm. Clarida returned to Pimco as managing director and Global Economic Advisor in October 2022. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Clarida was director of the NBER Project on and editor of G7 Current Account Imbalances: Sustainability and Adjustment. From 2004 to 2018 he served as co-editor of the NBER International Macroeconomics Annual.[6][7]

In March 2024, the Museum of American Finance honored Clarida with its Whitehead Award for Distinguished Public Service and Financial Leadership; the museum cited his "impactful government service and insightful economic leadership."[8]

Federal Reserve

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Clarida sworn in as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve in 2018

On April 24, 2018, Clarida was officially nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Stanley Fischer as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve.[9] On August 28, 2018, the United States Senate voted to confirm Clarida by a margin of 69–26. He assumed office on September 17, 2018.[10]

Controversial trading

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On February 27, 2020, one day before Fed Chair Jerome Powell issued a statement regarding the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clarida traded between $1 million and $5 million out of a bond fund into the equity fund PIMCO StocksPlus. A Fed spokesman responded to Reuters: "Vice Chair Clarida's financial disclosure for 2020 shows transactions that represent a pre-planned rebalancing to his accounts, similar to a rebalancing he did and reported in April 2019."[11] On October 4, 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren requested the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate whether Clarida violated insider trading rules and to look into his "ethically questionable transactions".[12] When a corrected disclosure revealed that Clarida had sold the same stock fund just three days before his purchase, The New York Times wrote: "the rapid move out of stocks and then back in makes it look less like a planned, long-term financial maneuver and more like a response to market conditions."[13] On January 10, 2022, Clarida announced he would resign his post on January 14, two weeks before the expiration of his term. The announcement from Clarida did not mention the alleged controversial trading activities.[14][15] In July 2022, Clarida was cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation from the Fed's Inspector General.[16]

Personal life

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Clarida grew up in Herrin, Illinois.[17] In 1989 he married Polly Morgan Barry.[18]

In 2016 he released Time No Changes, a 13-track album featuring his own music, lyrics and vocals.[19]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia

Richard H. Clarida is an American economist specializing in international economics and monetary policy. He served as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from September 17, 2018, to January 14, 2022.
Clarida holds the position of C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and Professor of International and Public Affairs at , where he has taught since 1988 and chaired the Department of from 1997 to 2001. His education includes a B.S. in from the University of Illinois with Bronze Tablet honors, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in from . Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior staff economist on President Reagan's and as Assistant Secretary of the for from 2002 to 2003. From 2006 to 2018, he was a global strategic advisor at , advancing to managing director in 2015, before rejoining the firm in 2022 as a managing director and global economic advisor. At the , Clarida contributed significantly to the 2018–2020 review of the institution's strategy, tools, and communications, which culminated in the adoption of a framework emphasizing flexible average to address persistent low pressures. His tenure also involved oversight of supervisory and regulatory functions as Vice Chair for Supervision. Clarida's resignation in early 2022 occurred amid public scrutiny of personal securities trades executed in February 2020 during initial market disruptions; an investigation by the 's Office of determined that these activities did not violate laws, rules, regulations, or policies, though it noted failures in timely disclosure on forms.

Education

Academic Degrees and Early Training

Richard Clarida earned a degree in from the University of at Urbana-Champaign in 1979, graduating with Bronze Tablet honors, an award recognizing academic excellence among top students. He then pursued advanced studies at , where he received both a and a in in 1983. During his doctoral program, Clarida benefited from mentorship by , a leading economist known for prioritizing data-driven empirical analysis in macroeconomic policy evaluation over purely theoretical or ideological frameworks. This training under Feldstein, who served as president of the and emphasized from observable economic indicators, laid the groundwork for Clarida's subsequent focus on evidence-based modeling in international and .

Academic Career

Teaching Positions and Affiliations

Clarida commenced his university teaching career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University, holding the position from 1983 to 1988. In 1988, he transitioned to Columbia University, where he served as a professor of economics and international affairs, continuing in this capacity through his subsequent policy roles while maintaining an active teaching presence until at least 2018. From 1997 to 2001, Clarida chaired the Department of Economics at Columbia, overseeing faculty and curriculum in macroeconomic and international economic topics. He holds the C. Lowell Harriss Professorship in Economics and International Affairs at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, a role emphasizing advanced instruction in global economic policy frameworks. These positions facilitated his development of courses grounded in empirical macroeconomic modeling and international finance dynamics, drawing on data-driven approaches to policy analysis.

Research Contributions in Macroeconomics

Clarida's macroeconomic research emphasizes empirical of policy rules and structural models that incorporate forward-looking expectations, providing data-driven insights into monetary transmission mechanisms. His work often tests New Keynesian frameworks against historical data, highlighting how systematic responses to and output gaps can stabilize economies, in contrast to discretionary policies lacking clear rules. Key contributions include analyses of policy-induced instability and open-economy adjustments, grounded in vector autoregressions and approximations. A of Clarida's is the co-development, with Jordi Galí and Mark Gertler, of a forward-looking New Keynesian model for evaluating rules. In their 1998 NBER working paper, extended in the 2000 Quarterly Journal of Economics article " Rules and Macroeconomic Stability," they estimate hybrid Taylor rules for the U.S. postwar period and G-3 economies, distinguishing backward-looking pre-Volcker regimes—which responded inadequately to expected and permitted explosive dynamics—from forward-looking post-Volcker rules that ensured and low volatility in and output. This framework integrates sticky prices with , demonstrating causally that policy rules anchoring nominal rates to estimated neutral real rates (r*) and targets mitigate shocks more effectively than fiscal-heavy interventions without . The model's innovations, praised for bridging theory and empirics, have informed practices, though heterodox economists critique its assumption for abstracting from and non-stationarities in expectation formation that empirical surveys reveal. In open-economy macroeconomics, Clarida's 1994 paper with Galí, "Sources of Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations: How Important Are Nominal Shocks?," employs structural VARs on U.S.-German and U.S.-Japanese data from 1973–1990, finding that monetary disturbances explain up to 50% of real variance in the short run, aligning with Mundell-Fleming predictions under flexible rates where expansionary policy depreciates the currency and boosts output. This challenges overreliance on fiscal stimulus in fixed-rate environments, as such regimes amplify nominal shocks without offsetting exchange rate adjustments, lacking rigorous for multipliers. Building on this, Clarida, Galí, and Gertler's 2002 Journal of Monetary Economics paper "A Simple Framework for International Monetary Policy Analysis" extends the closed-economy model to small open economies, advocating flexible exchange rates and to insulate domestic stability from foreign shocks, with welfare gains from rule-based policies estimated at 1–2% of steady-state consumption. Clarida's emphasis on estimating the neutral (r*)—the equilibrium rate yielding and —offers central banks a benchmark to assess policy stance empirically, avoiding adjustments prone to political influence. Early integrations in his policy rules work, refined in later analyses, use data and trend growth projections to derive r*, with U.S. estimates declining from around 2.5% in the to below 1% post-2008 due to demographics and productivity slowdowns, informing rules that target r* plus . This data-oriented approach counters Keynesian fiscal biases by prioritizing causal evidence from pass-through, though critics from heterodox perspectives argue it overemphasizes model-consistent expectations, potentially understating fiscal-monetary interactions in liquidity traps.

Private Sector Career Before Federal Reserve

Roles in Finance and Advisory Positions

From 2006 to 2018, Clarida served as Global Strategic Advisor and Managing Director at , a leading fixed-income firm, where he advised on macroeconomic trends and their implications for portfolio strategies, including forecasts and global economic outlooks. In this role, promoted to Managing Director in 2015, he contributed to the firm's research on dynamics and developments, helping integrate academic models into practical decisions amid volatile conditions such as the post-2008 recovery period. Prior to PIMCO, Clarida consulted for the Global Foreign Exchange Group at , focusing on currency strategies and international economic analysis to guide client investments in and related . He also held positions earlier in his career with , applying macroeconomic insights to amid evolving global financial markets. These advisory engagements demonstrated Clarida's translation of theoretical into actionable strategies for institutional investors, emphasizing empirical data on balances, differentials, and responses over speculative narratives. Critics of Clarida's private-sector tenure, particularly his deep ties to firms like , have argued that such roles could foster conflicts of interest in subsequent , potentially prioritizing stability over broader economic mandates; however, verifiable evidence of impropriety in his pre-Federal Reserve advisory work remains absent, with his contributions centered on data-driven outlooks rather than direct trading or proprietary positions. 's overall performance during the crisis, which involved successful bets against mortgage-backed securities yielding substantial returns (e.g., the Total Return Fund gained 1.8% in 2008 while broader bond indices fell), benefited from firm-wide macroeconomic foresight, though specific quantifiable impacts attributable solely to Clarida's advisory input are not publicly delineated in performance disclosures.

Federal Reserve Service

Nomination, Confirmation, and Vice Chair Role

President announced his intention to nominate Richard H. Clarida as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the System on April 16, 2018, to succeed whose term had expired. The official followed on April 24, 2018, positioning Clarida, then a managing director at , to bring his expertise in and to the central bank's leadership. This selection reflected the administration's interest in appointees with strong academic credentials in policy rules, amid ongoing discussions about balancing systematic approaches with flexible policymaking. The confirmed Clarida on August 28, 2018, by a vote of 69-26, with bipartisan support including 23 Democrats joining Republicans. He was sworn in on September 17, 2018, for a four-year term as Vice Chairman alongside Chairman , and concurrently as a member of the Board of Governors. The confirmation process highlighted Clarida's background, with senators questioning his views on and independence, to which he affirmed commitment to the Federal Reserve's of maximum employment and . In his Vice Chair role, Clarida contributed to the oversight of the (FOMC), including the development of economic projections and deliberations on policies grounded in incoming data on , , and growth. His position bridged theoretical macroeconomic modeling with practical implementation, drawing on prior research advocating rules-based strategies that respond systematically to economic deviations to promote stability. Proponents of rules-based , such as those emphasizing Taylor-like rules, viewed Clarida's appointment as a counterweight to discretionary activism, potentially fostering more predictable policy responses, while critics cautioned against rigid rules limiting adaptability to unique shocks. This perspective aligned with debates during the Trump era favoring explicit rules to guide Fed actions over unchecked judgment.

Key Contributions to Monetary Policy Framework

Richard H. Clarida, as Vice Chair for from 2018 to 2022, played a central role in the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) comprehensive review of its strategy, tools, and communications, launched in 2019 and concluded with the adoption of a revised framework on August 27, 2020. This review incorporated extensive public input through "Fed Listens" events and economic analysis, addressing challenges like persistently low inflation and neutral interest rates. Clarida's contributions emphasized empirical grounding, drawing on historical data showing U.S. core PCE inflation averaging below the 2% target—around 1.7% annually from 2012 to 2019—which risked entrenching lower inflation expectations via dynamics. A of Clarida's influence was the advocacy for flexible average (FAIT), which shifted from a symmetric focus around 2% to a longer-run average of 2%, permitting temporary overshoots to compensate for prior undershoots. This approach, formalized in the FOMC's revised Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Strategy, aimed to bolster expectations and support maximum symmetrically, supported by from international peers like the adopting similar averaging concepts. Clarida argued that FAIT provided a robust evolution, enabling policy to counter disinflationary pressures without committing to indefinite accommodation, as pre-2020 rules had sometimes implied. Clarida also advanced the integration of the equilibrium (r*) and considerations into the policy framework, critiquing earlier FOMC approaches for underestimating r* declines and maintaining excessively accommodative stances that amplified asset price volatility. He promoted data-driven estimation of r* using macroeconomic models alongside market signals like term premiums, arguing this enhanced rule-based assessments of policy gaps. The framework explicitly recognized risks—such as leverage buildup—as factors influencing the balance of risks, moving beyond and alone, though without formal thresholds. While the framework facilitated decisive rate hikes starting in March 2022—lifting the from near zero to 5.25-5.50% by July 2023 amid elevated —critics from varied perspectives questioned its implementation. Left-leaning analyses, such as those from scholars, contended it inadequately prioritized employment disparities or fiscal coordination in low-r* environments, potentially limiting proactive easing. Right-leaning views, echoed in policy rule evaluations, highlighted delays in signaling tightening despite early 2021 signals, attributing this to averaging's forward-looking tolerance for overshoots; however, causal from post-hike —core PCE falling toward 2% by 2024 without —supports the framework's flexibility in enabling symmetric responses grounded in incoming data.

Policy Actions During COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida supported the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) emergency measures in response to the COVID-19-induced economic shutdowns, including slashing the federal funds rate to a target range of 0 to 0.25 percent on March 15 and announcing unlimited purchases of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to expand quantitative easing (QE). These actions, alongside forward guidance committing to maintain low rates until recovery was evident, aimed to ensure liquidity in financial markets and support credit flows amid sharp contractions in economic activity. Clarida emphasized in subsequent remarks that such policies were calibrated to the unprecedented scale of the downturn, with the Fed deploying its full toolkit to prevent a deeper collapse in demand. The policies contributed to stabilizing financial markets, as evidenced by the rapid rebound in asset prices following initial turmoil, and helped limit the overall GDP contraction; U.S. real GDP declined by 2.2 percent for the full year , with the second-quarter annualized drop of 31.2 percent moderated by subsequent fiscal and monetary support that facilitated a V-shaped recovery in the second half. Proponents, including Clarida, argued these interventions averted a more severe akin to the , where output fell over 25 percent, by restoring confidence and enabling household and business spending to resume faster than in prior crises. Clarida defended the measures as data-dependent responses tailored to shocks from lockdowns and pandemic disruptions, rejecting claims of inflationary from perceived fiscal-monetary coordination; he maintained that the Fed's independence ensured actions were not aimed at monetizing deficits but at achieving goals of maximum employment and . In a May 2020 , he highlighted the necessity of zero rates and open-ended QE given the constraint, asserting that premature tightening would risk entrenching deflationary pressures. Critics, however, contended that the prolonged accommodation—maintaining zero rates and expansive growth through 2021—fueled excess demand that exacerbated post-recovery , with core CPI accelerating from 1.4 percent in December 2020 to 6.0 percent by September 2021 and peaking at 9.1 percent in June 2022, trends that empirical analyses link partly to sustained monetary stimulus interacting with supply bottlenecks rather than transitory factors alone. This perspective holds that the policies enabled unchecked fiscal outlays, delaying recognition of persistent price pressures and necessitating sharper rate hikes later, though Clarida countered that initial surges were predominantly supply-driven and that the Fed's subsequent tightening demonstrated flexibility.

Trading Activities and Ethics Investigations

In February 2020, amid heightened market volatility triggered by the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, Richard Clarida, then Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, executed trades involving sales of between $1 million and $5 million in equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including the Schwab Strategic 1000 ETF (SCHK), iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF (USMV), and iShares Core High Dividend ETF (HDV), on February 24. These sales were followed by repurchases of equities on February 27, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for March 3, which anticipated emergency rate cuts. Clarida's representatives described the transactions as part of a pre-planned portfolio rebalancing discussed in advance with Federal Reserve ethics officials, aimed at aligning with his long-term asset allocation targets rather than reacting to nonpublic information. Initial financial disclosures filed via Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Forms 278 for 2019 and 2020 omitted these February 2020 trades, as well as a December 31, 2019, purchase of the ; Clarida amended the forms on October 22, 2021, with OGE acceptance on November 1, 2021, attributing the omissions to inadvertence. Further amended disclosures in late December 2021, publicized in early January 2022, intensified media scrutiny from outlets including and , which framed the trades as potentially indicative of ethical lapses or insider advantages despite the absence of evidence for policy-driven motives. This coverage, often amplified by critics such as Senator who called for a Department of Justice probe, contributed to Clarida's decision to resign early, announcing his departure on January 10, 2022, effective January 14—two weeks ahead of his term's scheduled end on January 31. The Federal Reserve's Office of Inspector General (OIG) launched an investigation into Clarida's trading in response to public allegations, concluding on July 11, 2022, that the activities did not violate federal laws (such as 18 U.S.C. § 208 on conflicts of interest), FOMC blackout periods, or Reserve ethics policies. The OIG identified only the aforementioned disclosure omissions as issues, deeming them unintentional and unrelated to any conflict of interest or misuse of nonpublic information, thereby refuting unsubstantiated claims of insider trading propagated in initial media reports. No criminal charges were filed by the Department of Justice despite demands from congressional figures, underscoring the empirical clearance over narrative-driven portrayals of scandal.

Post-Federal Reserve Career

Return to PIMCO and Current Role

Following the General's July 2022 determination that Clarida had not violated laws, rules, or policies despite failing to report certain 2020 trades on disclosure forms, he rejoined as managing director and global economic advisor on August 3, 2022. In this capacity, Clarida advises 's Investment Committee on macroeconomic developments, drawing on his prior experience at the firm from 2006 to 2018 to inform portfolio strategies amid evolving monetary conditions. Clarida's post-return analyses have emphasized transitions in Federal Reserve policy, including projections for gradual rate reductions in 2024 and 2025 without reverting to near-zero levels that risked reigniting inflation, given well-anchored inflation expectations and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities yields stabilizing around 2% since 2023. He has highlighted liquidity dynamics in easing cycles, noting in PIMCO's 2024 Secular Outlook that central banks had largely subdued post-pandemic inflation surges, enabling cuts while structural fragmentation—such as geopolitical tensions and supply chain shifts—warranted diversified fixed-income positioning over aggressive yield-chasing. These insights contributed to PIMCO's strategic emphases, such as favoring duration extension in bonds amid anticipated neutral rates around 3% for the , as articulated in Clarida's June 2025 charting of yield trajectories. While direct causal links to firm-wide returns remain unquantified in public data, 's total exceeded $2 trillion by late 2022, with bond strategies benefiting from Clarida's input on mid-cycle adjustments rather than full reversions to accommodative extremes.

Personal Life and Views

Family and Background

Richard Clarida was born on May 18, 1957, in Herrin, Illinois, a small city in the southern part of the state. He grew up in Herrin, where his father worked as the band director for the local school district, reflecting modest Midwestern roots in a community situated between Marion and Carbondale. Clarida married Polly Morgan Barry on June 17, 1989, in Westport, Connecticut. The couple has two children. As of the early 2000s, he resided in Southport, Connecticut, though later records indicate a home in nearby Westport.

Economic Philosophy and Public Commentary

Clarida advocates for rules-based , particularly through frameworks like the , which prescribes adjustments based on deviations of from target and output from potential, thereby promoting predictability and shielding decisions from short-term political exigencies. He has critiqued discretionary approaches for their vulnerability to and external pressures, arguing that systematic rules better anchor expectations and foster macroeconomic stability, as evidenced in empirical analyses of historical policy episodes where rule adherence correlated with superior outcomes. In discussions of and , Clarida emphasizes against , contending that tariffs and barriers distort efficient without resolving root causes of imbalances, such as divergent savings rates or fiscal policies. He supports multilateral coordination over unilateral actions, citing the 1985 Plaza Accord's success—where currency adjustments complemented domestic reforms—as a model for addressing deficits, while warning that isolated interventions risk retaliation and higher global inflation. Post-COVID, Clarida has highlighted the need for fiscal restraint to avoid prolonging inflationary episodes, noting that the 2020-2021 monetary-fiscal expansion, while necessary for response, exceeded supply-side recovery and necessitated aggressive rate hikes for . In 2024-2025 commentaries, he praised the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle for restoring 2% inflation credibility through data-driven persistence, yet urged flexibility beyond rigid model projections, critiquing overreliance on backward-looking assumptions that undervalue forward guidance and market signals. On , he argues that institutional safeguards, reinforced by reputational costs of policy errors, deter politicization more effectively than statutory tweaks, allowing technocratic focus amid fiscal expansions.

References

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