Fed Chief Bernanke Goes Back to School

U.S. Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke is going back to school: the Fed said Thursday he will lead a series of university classes on the U.S. central bank in Washington in March.

Bernanke, an economics professor at Princeton before he became Fed chairman in February 2006, will lead four classes on "The Federal Reserve and its Role in Today's Economy" with business school undergraduates at George Washington University.

The classes will also have other experts on central banking, and will be streamed online by the Federal Reserve.

In a news conference Wednesday, Bernanke, 58, shrugged off attacks from Republican lawmakers and presidential hopefuls who have blamed his easy-money policies for everything from pumping up inflation to stifling economic growth.

Even after three years of holding the Fed's key interest rate near zero, Bernanke said, "the low level of inflation is a validation" of Fed policies.

"There are some who were very concerned that our balance-sheet policies and the like would lead to high inflation. There's certainly no sign of that yet."