Volcker, Paul A(dolph)

born Sept. 5, 1927, Cape May, N.J., U.S.

U.S. economist.

He worked as an economist for the Chase Manhattan Bank (1957–61; 1965–68). As an undersecretary at the U.S. Treasury Department (1969–74), Volcker was the chief architect of the U.S.'s abandonment of the gold-exchange standard and the devaluations of the U.S. dollar (1971, 1973). After serving as president of the Federal Reserve Bank (1975–79), he was appointed head of the Federal Reserve System in 1979 by Pres. Jimmy Carter and served until 1987. To end a period of very high inflation, he slowed the growth of the money supply and allowed interest rates to rise, causing a recession (1982–83) but dramatically reducing inflation.

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