Ben Bernanke getting Nobel Prize is panned as ‘drunkest decision of all time’

The decision to award the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics to former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke was widely panned on social media as critics blamed the then-central bank chief for contributing to the 2008 global financial crisis.

Bernanke and two other researchers, Douglas W. Diamond of the University of Chicago and Philip H. Dybvig of Washington University in St. Louis, were awarded the honor for their research into the role of banks in managing — and even precipitating — a financial crisis.

“The laureates have provided a foundation for our modern understanding of why banks are needed, why they’re vulnerable, and what to do about it,” wrote John Hassler, a Stockholm University economist and a member of the prize committee.

But the news was met with disbelief on social media.

Journalist Matt Taibbi, a harsh critic of the bailouts given to financial institutions as a result of the 2008 crisis, tweeted: “Giving Ben Bernanke the Nobel Prize in Economics may be the drunkest decision of all time.”

Michael Burry, the investor who made a fortune betting against the housing market and was portrayed in the hit film “The Big Short,” tweeted: “Bernanke gets the Nobel Prize in Economics. Not a joke.”

Irina Tsukerman, a business analyst who heads Scarab Rising, told The Post that Bernanke’s critics have a point.

“The 2008 global financial crisis came about as a result of a ‘perfect storm’ [of] predatory lending of low-income homebuyers … which encouraged borrowing and mortgages for people who could not afford them” as well as “excessive risk-taking by banks and other global financial institutions,” Tsukerman told The Post.

She said the Fed under Bernanke “contributed to all three factors” due to its “failure to take necessary steps to avoid the catastrophe by raising the interest rates in a timely manner, which would have encouraged savings and would have moderated excessive spending and other risky practices.”

Tsukerman faulted Bernanke for proposing a “quantitative easing” program that “involved the unconventional purchase of Treasury bond securities and mortgage-backed securities to increase the money supply in the economy.”

“Now Bernanke is getting a Nobel Prize for encouraging irresponsible fiscal behavior at a time of global inflation and after many years of US government following his example by printing Monopoly money,” Tsukerman said.

Lindsey Boylan, former candidate for Manhattan borough president, seemed to agree with that assessment. She tweeted that the decision “can only be described as insane.”

Genevieve Roch-Decter, the CEO of Grit Capital, tweeted: “Monday Inspiration: If Ben Bernanke can win the Nobel Prize in Economics after letting the Housing Crash happen, you can do anything you set your mind to.”

The Post has reached out to Bernanke, who is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the DC think tank the Brookings Institution, seeking comment.