Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker Dies at 92

Paul Volcker, an economist who guided decades of American economic policy — including waging war on inflation as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve — has died at age 92.

He passed away on Sunday, December 8, according to a陈述从他的公共政策组，沃尔克联盟。

Volcker worked for the U.S. government for almost 30 years, culminating in two terms as chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, a position he held from 1979 to 1987. He would later go on to serve as chair of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009 to 2011, when he helped introduce the bank-curbing Volcker Rule as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Volcker began his career in monetary policy in 1952 as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He later worked in the U.S. Treasury Department under presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Volcker then returned to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as its president in 1975.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Volcker for the role of Fed chairman amid rising consumer prices. That year, inflation was on track to reach an annual rate above11 percent— a rate that would increase further, to a peak of 13.5 percent in 1980.

“Things started to feel like they were out of control,” said Bill Michaelcheck, founder of Mariner Investment Group, speaking to亚博赞助欧冠in 2017. The bond investor recalled how Volcker curbed inflation by dramatically increasing interest rates over the span of a single weekend.

“In October of 1979 they did it,” he said. “They raised interest rates hundreds of basis points… doubled interest rates literally from Friday to Monday.”

[IIDeep Dive:The Weekend Paul Volcker Raised Interest Rates]

有争议的举措有助于将美国经济从1981年到1982年推向一岁的经济衰退，因为联邦基金利率 - 美联储的利率 - 上升至20％。但是，它在充气中取得了成功：1983年的年度通胀率下降到3.2％，从此留下了下来。

Thirty years after beginning his tenure as Fed chairman, Volcker was tapped to lead the Obama administration’s response to the 2008 financial crisis. As chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Volcker pushed for restrictions on big banks as part of a larger regulatory reform package.

As亚博赞助欧冠reportedat the time, “section 619 of the 2,300-page Dodd-Frank Act, better known as the Volcker rule, prohibits deposit-taking banks from engaging in short-term proprietary trading. It also sets strict limits on how much banks can invest in hedge funds and private equity: just 3 percent of a fund’s assets.”

The Volcker rule — like the 1979 interest rate hike — proved controversial. Federal Reserve economists published apaperin 2017 finding that the rule has had a severe impact on bond market liquidity, and Congress last year通过了a deregulation bill to roll back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, including weakening the Volcker rule.

Volcker remained engaged in public policy after his role in the Obama administration, founding the Volcker Alliance in 2013 to promote “effective management of government.” Last year, he published a memoir with Christine Harper entitledKeeping At It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government.

In a陈述on Monday, current Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell praised Volcker for exemplifying the “highest ideals — integrity, courage, and a commitment to do what was best for all Americans.”

鲍威尔说：“他相信他没有比公共服务更高的呼叫，”鲍威尔说。“他对国家的贡献留下了持久的遗产。”