Greg Ip returns to WSJ as chief economics commentator

Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker announced Wednesday that Greg Ip will be returning as chief economics commentator in January:

I am delighted to announce that Greg Ip is returning to The Wall Street Journal as our chief economics commentator.  Greg will write a weekly column on economic trends, policy and ideas and will be a leading contributor to our expanded coverage of economic themes on digital platforms and in print.

Greg returns to us from The Economist where he distinguished himself as a prominent and thoughtful writer on the dismal science over the past six years.  He has few rivals as a lively interpreter and analyst of the world’s economic ebbs and flows and as an articulate voice in economic discussions.  The remit of his column will range broadly – across U.S. and global economic topics.

A native of Canada and a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa.  Greg got his economics training early when his mother, a professional economist and, briefly, a Milton Friedman devotee, indexed his weekly allowance to inflation.

In university he double majored in economics and journalism as a form of portfolio diversification: if prospects dimmed in one field, he could turn to the other. He ended up straddling both. His first job was on the Vancouver Sun‘s metro desk, and to escape the night shift, he moved to business and enjoyed it. He worked at both the Financial Post and Globe and Mail in Toronto covering business and economics.

He landed his first role at the Journal in 1996 after he pitched the editor of Money and Investing a story on negative convexity in the mortgage market. The editor had no idea what he was talking about, but hired him anyway. Greg spent four years covering the late-1990s bull market, then moved to the Journal’s Washington bureau to cover the Federal Reserve. He told colleagues he wanted to “stop writing about the monkey and start writing about the organ grinder.”

Greg covered the Fed and the economy from 2001 to 2008, a period that began with the dot-com bust and 9/11 and ended as the financial crisis began. In July 2008, Greg made one of his most heroic and timely forecasts by declaring that, with Bear Stearns bailed out, the financial crisis was over and it was time to move on. He accepted a job as U.S. economics editor at The Economist, writing articles, editorials, book reviews, and blog posts about monetary and fiscal policy, politics, and economic theory.

His 2011 book, “The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World,” became a go-to economic guide for college undergraduates, self-directed investors and budding financial journalists.

The two decades Greg has spent writing about finance, economics and policy around the world will enrich his writings as the Journal’s new economics columnist. He will come aboard in late January.

Please join me in welcoming Greg back to The Wall Street Journal.