Take a class online from Ben Bernanke

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is going back to school – and the public is invited to watch.

As part of his efforts to demystify the nation’s central bank, Bernanke has agreed to deliver four lectures to George Washington University.

The first, focusing on financial panics that led to the Fed’s creation in 1913, can be viewed online starting at 9:45 a.m. PDT Tuesday.

Additional lectures this Thursday and on March 27 and 29 will cover the later history of the Fed.

Bernanke, a former economics professor at Stanford and Princeton, will become the first Fed boss to teach as a side job. He’s already become the first to hold regular news conferences and town hall-style meetings.

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