(Adds quotes from BoE's King, Posen)
By Sumeet Desai and Fiona Shaikh
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. economist Adam Posen will join the Bank of England's interest rate setting committee from Sept. 1, the UK Treasury said on Tuesday, replacing policy hawk Tim Besley.
Economists said Posen, currently deputy director at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, would be an asset at a tricky time for the Monetary Policy Committee.
"Posen is an outstanding selection and will not be afraid, should the need arise, to stand apart from the rest of the Committee and fight his corner," said Colin Ellis, European economist at Daiwa Securities.
"He is also one of a dwindling band of academics that are willing and able to abandon complex jargon and communicate economics in a straightforward and transparent manner."
Formerly a visiting scholar at both the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, Posen is well known for a book on inflation targeting he co-wrote with Fed chairman Ben Bernanke in 1999. He spent time at the Bank of England in 2006 as a Houblon Norman Senior Fellow.
Posen has also written about the lessons of the Japanese financial crisis, a hot topic for policymakers dealing with the world recession and wondering at what stage they will have to unwind huge stimulus programmes.
"I'm extremely pleased that Adam has accepted this appointment and look forward to welcoming him back to the bank," said BoE Governor Mervyn King.
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Posen's appointment comes at a crucial time for the BoE which has cut interest rates to a record low of 0.5 percent and embarked on a 125 billion pound quantitative easing programme to pull the British economy out of recession.
The future rate-setter said on Tuesday he did not think the asset purchase scheme would drive up inflation.
"(The impact will be) very limited, because central banks have learnt the lessons of the 70s," Posen told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels.
Asked about his view on signs of recovery in the world's largest economies, Posen said he expected positive growth in the United States, China, and, with a lag, in Japan well before the end of this year.
"I expect that to continue well through 2010," he said, although he said he would not make any forecasts for the UK before he participates in "at least one MPC cycle".
Posen beat 49 other candidates for the job which was first advertised in April. Under new rules, he will have to be resident in Britain to take up the post.
Economists said it was hard to imagine that Posen would not be more dovish than Besley whom he replaces and who was widely regarded as the most hawkish member of the committee.
A professor at the London School of Economics, Besley was the only one on the committee to vote for rate hikes in July and August last year when it later became known the economy was already in recession.
He announced in March he planned to leave the MPC when his three-year term ended on Aug. 31 to focus on his academic career.
(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Marcin Grajewski in Brussels; Writing by Sumeet Desai; Editing by Mike Peacock/Ruth Pitchford)