A Missed Opportunity.

• Author: Fischer, Stanley
• Position: OFF THE NEWS

Other attendees did not fail to notice outgoing Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer slipping into the Bergsten Auditorium of the Peterson Institute for International Economics one morning recently. The main speaker that day: former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who chaired the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, including the period of the financial crisis.

What was striking was Bernanke's remarkably thoughtful presentation. The former chairman outlined monetary policy options in the event of a crisis, with interest rates still at the zero lower bound. Bernanke worries that his policies that helped stabilize financial markets a decade ago won't work in the future. And he outlined various options for the next chairman. The contrast with the soon-to-be...