After little more than a year as president of the Philadelphia Fed, Patrick Harker is emerging as a central banker willing to stir things up, challenging his colleagues on interest-rate policy and tackling politically contentious issues such as immigration and free trade. He told reporters on Oct. 13 that he advocated raising short-term interest rates at the Federal Reserve's policy meeting in September, when it decided instead to hold them steady. In a speech the same day, he said allowing more immigration to the U.S. could help the economy—touching a hot- button issue in a year when Republican presidential ... (full story)