On one occasion, after I had spent the better part of an hour explaining the brilliant methodology I was so proud of, someone asked, “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just go and ask Chairmen Greenspan and Volcker what they did?” This was meant as a joke – although I am not sure I laughed much at the time.
Whether it would have been conceivable to question directly the Fed Chairmen, I don’t even know. I would have certainly loved to. But that was not the point.