If you’re not an economics major, you may not have heard of Professor Mark Gertler. In fact, it’s possible that some of the (undergrad) econ majors haven’t even heard of him. However, despite his low profile on campus, Gertler is one of the nation’s top economists.

According to a statistical analysis of thousands of economics papers, Gertler is the 14th most cited author in the world (a sign of his influence on the field), coming in just behind National Economic Council Director Larry Summers (#13) and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman (#12).

Gertler is a long-time publishing partner with now-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. According to Gertler’s CV, the two were co-authors on 9 papers. Much of their work focused on monetary policy – precisely what Bernanke is now determining.

Get Gertler’s take on the recession, his work with Bernanke, and whether or not any of us will be able to get a job after the jump.

It looks like we may be climbing out of the recession this quarter (at least technically – employment is still looking bleak) . Do you think we’re out of the woods?

We’re still in the woods but at least now we can see the light coming in from the edge.

What do you think of the Fed’s monetary policy response to the financial crisis?

Many observers agree that the Fed’s aggressive and creative interventions kept the financial markets and the economy from falling off a cliff. So I would say that’s pretty good.

You worked together with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for many years. You must see the imprint of your work together in his decisions. Where has that been most noticeable?

There was no way he was going to let the financial markets melt down on his watch. This was the mistake that central bankers made in the Depression and he was not going to repeat this mistake. He realized immediately that the Fed needed to act quickly and needed to not be afraid to experiment with new policies. That’s exactly what he did.

Do you and Bernanke ever discuss policy decisions?

We’ve had some brief big picture discussions but he can’t discuss anything confidential.

What do you think of Washington’s fiscal policy response? Was the stimulus the right idea? Too big? Too small?

I don’t think we know the full outcome yet. I think it was right to experiment.

What do you think of Obama’s proposed financial regulations? What’s missing?

I think it is absolutely critical to pass financial reform. Otherwise we will head down the same path. Though it was completely distasteful, it was in the best interests of the economy to assist large financial institutions to prevent a market meltdown. But we need to adjust the regulatory framework to prevent these institutions from taking the kinds of risks that put us in the mess we are in today.

Macroeconomics, as a field, is having somewhat of an identity crisis right now. Paul Krugman fired up the debate once again this month with his long piece for the New York Times magazine describing how “economists got it so wrong.” As ‘freshwater‘ and ‘saltwater‘ economists snipe at each other on the Internet, this is your chance to weigh in. Where did economists go wrong and who’s to blame?

I think Paul has point that there was a general sense of complacency in the profession and of overconfidence in our ability to manage the economy. Twenty-five years of mostly strong economic growth with price stability can have that effect.

But I don’t think a failure to predict the crisis means a failure of the profession. Anticipating the crisis required an appreciation of the risks posed by the shadow banking system, which just about everyone on the planet missed (including the rating agencies.)

Once the crisis hit, however, policy-makers like Bernanke made extensive use of research (including much of his own) to diagnose the situation and the design the response.

Let me add that while some of the saltwater/freshwater debate [ed. note: basically, the rift between coastal schools (hence, saltwater) that generally believe that fiscal stimulus is effective during a recession and inland schools (freshwater) that don't] remains, the best work today combines elements of both. One reason Bernanke did so well was that he ignored the fringe elements on both sides.

Which economist’s work had the most influence on the response to the financial crisis and why?

Have to say Bernanke relied pretty heavily on his own work. One of those weird co-incidences of history – a scholar of financial crises put in charge of the Fed right before one hits.

What research are you working on right now?

I’m trying to model how the Fed’s unconventional approach to policy in the current crisis affected the outcome.

Will the class of 2010 be able to get jobs? How about 2011?

Things look better for the class of 2011 but those in 2010 should not lose hope. That’s right about the time the job market should pick up.

UPDATE: Welcome MR and Brad DeLong readers! There is more econ stuff around the site: most recently, see our posts on health care and college tuition bubbles.