5 Ways The New Fed Chairman Will Be Different

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Bernanke seems to want no part of that life. When he was appointed a Fed governor in Washington, the college professor "didn't have a suit to his name," says his father Philip. Bernanke realized he had to go shopping and "picked up four suits--all the same color." Before moving to Washington, he commuted from Princeton and told colleagues how he spent hours on the New Jersey Turnpike when he should have been with his wife Anna and two children, now college age. Says New York University economist Mark Gertler, who collaborated with Bernanke on several studies: "He would get home for dinner, and the subject changed. It wasn't economics anymore."

5. Astronomy vs. Philosophy

Even Central bankers charged with steering the global economy are permitted their pastimes. Greenspan loves to roam well beyond the facts for intellectual stimulation. He was deeply influenced by Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged, which helped shape his view that individuals acting in self-interest make for fair and honest markets. Although Bernanke wrote an unpublished novel in his younger days, his reading list swings to the pragmatic. He spent a recent vacation with a book about astronomy and has read volumes about Milton Friedman, whom he regards as the 20th century's greatest economist for his arguments on the power of free markets.

In the end, however, one key affinity may indicate that the two economists are more alike than different. Both are passionate about baseball, crediting the game with fostering their love of statistics. Bernanke, who as a youth developed a dice-based baseball game, loves the work of Bill James, the baseball statistician known for focusing on obscure data to evaluate talent. Both have adopted the Washington Nationals. But their deep loyalties reach beyond the Beltway--to two teams with frustrating histories. Greenspan is a New York Mets fan; Bernanke pulls for the Boston Red Sox. No doubt, more frustrations await Bernanke as he learns to mold the economy. But if he sticks to his numbers, he should do fine.