TIP SHEET: U.Va. Expert on Federal Reserve Cutting Key Interest Rate by a Quarter Point

Dec. 19, 2007 — The Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest rate today by one-quarter percentage point, to 4.25 percent, signaling its concern that the credit crisis might be gradually damaging the broader economy beyond housing.


Quotes by Professor Peter Rodriguez:

• "The Fed is still playing catch-up to a crisis that struck at lightning speed.  Now it seems the real effects are showing themselves across the economy."

• "The Fed didn't want to make this cut just a few weeks ago, but the bad signs became very apparent just recently. It's an economywide issue now."

Biography
 
Peter L. Rodriguez is an associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Trained as an economist — who studied at Princeton under current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — Rodriguez specializes in the study of international business, trade and economic development. Rodriguez has been widely quoted regarding the effects of Katrina on the economy, gasoline prices, the housing market and other economy-related issues in the national media.

Rodriguez has received numerous awards for teaching excellence in classes ranging from international macroeconomics to business-government relations. Prior to his teaching career, he worked in the Global Energy Group at JP Morgan Chase.



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