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Lagarde’s Move to Top of ECB Makes Lane Her Monetary Brain

  • Irish central banker has been chief economist since June
  • Lagarde’s IMF experience may help with call for fiscal support
Philip Lane
Philip LanePhotographer: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

When Christine Lagarde takes over as the next head of the European Central Bank, one of the first people she’ll turn to is Philip Lane.

The Harvard-educated former Irish central bank governor, who’s been a consultant for the World Bank and Federal Reserve, could be the ECB’s most influential chief economist since Germany’s Otmar Issing at the birth of the euro two decades ago.