What economic experts think about Trump’s choice of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair – PBS News
USA-FED / Former U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh speaks during a monetary policy conference at Stanford University…By — Hannah Grabenstein
Detailed view of the US Federal Reserve System seal on currency with yellow digital numbers. WP.What economic experts think about Trump’s choice of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair
Economy Updated on Jan 30, 2026 7:29 PM EST — Published on Jan 30, 2026 5:17 PM EST
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, an independent agency that has been under pressure from the president to lower interest rates for the last year.
If confirmed, Warsh would succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell — a previous Trump nominee who has incurred the president’s ire for not heeding his demands — when Powell’s term expires in May.
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Warsh served on the Fed Board of Governors from 2006 through 2011, where he had an opportunity to help shape the U.S. economy during one of its greatest periods of turmoil in recent history. Now a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank, and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he also worked as an economic advisor to President George W. Bush.
Experts appear to view Warsh’s nomination with “cautious relief,” said Mark Gertler, a professor of economics at New York University.
Here are three things to know about Warsh and how he might influence the Fed as the agency’s new head.
1. Warsh is a lawyer, not an economist
Like Powell, Warsh has a J.D., not a Ph.D. in economics. Powell was the first Federal Reserve chair in 30 years to not have a doctorate in economics.
“The Fed’s culture is Ph.D. economists on top,” said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
“I think Powell was pretty deferential to what the professional staff economists’ view was,” he added.
But Warsh may have a different approach, said Klein, who first met him when Warsh was working at the National Economic Council at the White House. Lawyers view the world through a different cultural lens than macroeconomists do, he said.
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“The question is: Is Kevin going to shake up the culture of the Fed staff? Or is he going to show deference to the Fed’s Ph.D. economists who are accustomed to running the show?” Klein said.
That could influence his policy decisions, too, Gertler said. Warsh isn’t an economist and doesn’t speak — or necessarily reason — like one, he added.
“The reason I’m not too worried is Powell was not an economist either, but Powell learned over time. In fact, I think (he) learned pretty well,” Gertler said. “I’m hopeful that the same will be true with Warsh — that is, put him in there with a bunch of economists and they will help sharpen his thinking.”
2. In many ways, Warsh is a conservative pick
While not a macroeconomist by education, Warsh has a relatively traditional background for a Fed chair nominee, experts said.
He’s an academic with experience in the executive branch, as well as on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and is knowledgeable about financial markets. During his term as a board member, he was instrumental in helping then-Chair Ben Bernanke navigate the 2008 financial crisis.
“Warsh is a serious guy with a long track record and a deep experience,” Klein said. “Warsh was the Fed board’s interlocutor with the markets during the financial crisis.”
Gertler said that knowledge about financial markets is an important characteristic in a Fed chair, because while interest rate setting isn’t easy, it’s “straightforward.” But understanding the markets requires “specialized expertise,” which Gertler said he thinks Warsh has.
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Warsh also has a history of being intellectually conservative, Klein said, with an eye toward reducing government intervention in the markets.
“He’s not some outsider. This is not like Pete Hegseth coming in, or Kristi Noem, or whatever. This is someone who does have some genuine expertise, and he has been at the Fed,” Gertler said.
“He has not come across as overtly political in the way some other candidates did,” he added.
Warsh likely understands the Fed’s culture and is unlikely to “try and tear the place apart,” Gertler noted. That’s giving experts reason for some relief, he said.
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