Michael Woodford is the John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University. He received one of the first MacArthur “genius grants” and is considered the world’s preeminent monetary economist. His paper at the central bank retreat in Jackson Hole, Wy. advocating a policy called “nominal GDP targeting” caused a stir in the profession and was commented upon by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke following the announcement of the latest round of quantitative easing Thursday.