The University of Chicago has long been known for its roster of distinguished economists, including Douglas Diamond, who just shared the Nobel Prize in Economics with former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and Diamond’s frequent collaborator, Philip Dybvig of Washington University in St. Louis. Since Diamond’s a specialist in the economics of banking, I wanted to get his view on the inflationary surge and the Fed’s desperate race to tame it. On Oct. 11 we spoke at length by phone. Diamond quickly noted that the central bank’s moves did exert a huge impact on the lending ecosystem. And he expressed strong …