Paul Adolph Volcker, born Sept. 5, 1927, is an economist best-known as the chairman of theFederal Reserve from August 1979 to August 1987 under U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Educated at Princeton, Harvard and the London School of Economics, Volcker served as under-secretary of the treasury for international monetary affairs from 1969 to 1974. He played an important role in the decisions surrounding the U.S. decision to suspend gold convertibility in 1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In general, he acted as a moderating influence on policy, advocating the pursuit of an international solution to monetary problems.
After leaving the U.S. Treasury, he became president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1975 to 1979.
Under Volker, the Fed is credited with ending the U.S. inflation crisis of the early 1980s by constricting the money supply through a sharp increase in interest rates. Inflation, at 9 percent in 1980, was lowered to 3.2 percent by 1983.
In April 2004, he headed a panel that investigated possible corruption in the United Nation's oil-for-food program.
He is the current chairman of the board of trustees of the Washington-based body, the Group of Thirty.
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