Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987.

[9] Paul Sr. thrived in the role for 20 years as he improved the burgeoning town's economic stability and the local government's effectiveness.

Volcker graduated from Teaneck High School in 1945,[8] where he participated in several student groups and impressed his peers and teachers with his knowledge of politics.

In his senior thesis, titled "The Problems of Federal Reserve Policy since World War II", Volcker criticized the Federal Reserve's post-WWII policies for failing to curb inflationary pressures, writing, "a swollen money supply presented a grave inflationary threat to the economy.

"[12][13][14] Following a summer as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he moved to Harvard University to earn an M.A.

He played an important role in President Richard Nixon's decision to suspend gold convertibility of the dollar on August 15, 1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.

[20] After leaving the U.S. Treasury, he spent a year as a senior fellow at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School (his alma mater).

Carter resultingly sought a reassuring, qualified nominee who would confront inflation head-on, and nominated Paul Volcker to serve as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on July 25, 1979.

In addition to the rises in key interest rates, the so-called 'Volcker shock' included monetarist-inspired policies, such as targeting the money supply.

[28] Volcker's Federal Reserve board elicited the strongest political attacks and most widespread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve (unlike any protests experienced since 1922), due to the effects of high interest rates on the construction, farming, and industrial sectors, culminating in indebted farmers driving their tractors onto C Street NW in Washington, D.C. and blockading the Eccles Building.

In July 1984, Volcker was summoned to a meeting with President Reagan and then White House Chief of Staff James Baker.

Volcker wrote in his memoir that he was "stunned," but since he had not intended to raise rates and felt the White House wouldn't publicize it, he did not speak of the meeting to the press.

[34] Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said about him in an interview: Paul Volcker, the previous Fed Chairman known for keeping inflation under control, was fired because the Reagan administration didn't believe he was an adequate de-regulator.

[35]Congressman Ron Paul, well known as a harsh critic of the Federal Reserve, offered qualified praise of Volcker: Being in Congress in the late 1970s and early 1980s and serving on the House Banking Committee, I met and got to question several Federal Reserve chairmen: Arthur Burns, G. William Miller, and Paul Volcker.

[43] In 1996, he took up the chair of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons (Volcker Commission) to look into the dormant accounts of Jewish victims of the Holocaust lying in Swiss banks.

His activites there primarily focused on guiding the research staff and engaging global business leaders to support The Conference Board's activities promoting free-markets, economic analysis and responsible corporate governance.

"[46] While Volcker did not implicate the Secretary General in the selection process, however, he did cast serious doubt on Kofi Annan, whose "management performance ... fell short of the standards that the United Nations Organization should strive to maintain.

[50] As of October 2006, he was the chairman of the board of trustees of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty, and a member of the Trilateral Commission.

He was a chairman and an honorary trustee of International House, the cultural exchange residence and program center in New York City.

A profile in The Week for February 5, 2010, stated that Volcker does not agree with the conventional wisdom that "financial innovation" is necessary for a healthy economy.

"[68] In 2011, Volcker and former Secretary of State George Shultz authored an article in The Wall Street Journal voicing their opinion that the War on Drugs had failed.

The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multi-disciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

[71][72] The nonpartisan Alliance works toward that objective by partnering with other organizations—academic, business, governmental, and public interest—to strengthen professional education for public service, conduct needed research on government performance, and improve the efficiency and accountability of governmental organization at the federal, state, and local levels.

[81] Volcker was an avid fly-fisherman,[82] who recounted in 1987, "The greatest strategic error of my adult life was to take my wife to Maine on our honeymoon on a fly-fishing trip.

"[83][84] Volcker was known as "Tall Paul" for his height of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m),[85][86] standing exactly a foot (30 cm) taller than his first wife, Barbara, when they first met.

[93] Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where Volker served on the advisory board from 2001 until his death, established the "Paul Volcker Chair" in Behavioral economics in 2011.