The Minneapolis Fed on Tuesday named former banker, government official, and unsuccessful California gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari to become its new president and chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

He sat down with The Wall Street Journal’s Michael S. Derby for an interview Monday. The soon-to-be central banker praised the Fed’s performance during the crisis, commented on the “fresh water” vs. “salt water” divide in economics, described what he learned about the limits of the free markets during the financial crisis and defended the Phillips curve, among other things. Here are excerpts from the discussion, edited for length and clarity.

MICHAEL S. DERBY: What attracted you to this job? And what sort of things do you kind of mark or what sort of things do you want to do with the bank once you start on January 1st?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, I care deeply about public policy. It’s why I went to Washington originally, when I went to Treasury in 2006. It’s why I ran for governor of California. And I think the Federal Reserve banks can be and should be some of the most important economic policy thought leaders in the country.

And so Minneapolis has a very rich history of very strong economic policy research. I’m excited to join the institution, work with the staff here, tap into their best ideas, and then bring forward bold economic ideas for the district and for the country. And so to me this is a continuation of a lot of the policy work that I’ve already done, but doing it now within the Federal Reserve System is appealing.