THE ECONOMY

Blinder Top Candidate for Fed Post: Alan Blinder, a member of President Clinton’s economic brain trust and former Princeton University economist, is the leading candidate to take the No. 2 post at the Federal Reserve, Administration officials said. The position at the powerful central bank unexpectedly opened up early this month with the departure of David Mullins. Blinder, 48, has served the past year on the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers. As Fed vice chairman, Blinder would play a major role in determining the direction of interest rates and the economy and would de facto be a top candidate to take over as head of the central bank when Alan Greenspan’s term ends in 1996.