Former Fed Chairman Bernanke gets a new title: Blogger

WASHINGTON - The man who spent eight years as the head of the nation's central bank carefully watching his every comment is writing "Ben Bernanke's Blog," where he'll be free to air his opinions on matters of economics and finance.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is now a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, which made the announcement on Monday, coinciding with the publishing of the former fed chief's first blog. Brookings said that Bernanke will use the blog to share his observations and opinions about current economic events, while welcoming questions and comments from readers.

"Now that I'm a civilian again, I can once more comment on economic and financial issues without my words being put under the microscope by Fed watchers," Bernanke said in a statement.

The first blog post was devoted to examining the question of why interest rates are so low not only in the United States, but also around the world.

Brookings said Bernanke's blog would also occasionally touch on baseball. Bernanke, who served as Fed chairman from February 2006 until January 2014, is a big baseball fan.

He has spent the past year writing a book about the causes and government responses to the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis. The book is scheduled to be published this fall by W.W. Norton.