Volcker, Paul Adolph definition of Volcker, Paul Adolph in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Volcker, Paul Adolph, 1927–, American economist, government official, and banker, b. Cape May, N.J. After working as an under secretary in the Treasury Department (1969–74) and as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank (1975–79), he was appointed the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve System, central banking system of the United States. Established in 1913, it began to operate in Nov., 1914. Its setup, although somewhat altered since its establishment, particularly by the Banking Act of 1935, has remained substantially the same.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1979. He pursued a restrictive monetary policy to combat inflation but was forced by a stagnant economy and high unemployment to support increased monetary growth during the mid-1980s. Volcker was succeeded as Federal Reserve Board chairman by Alan Greenspan Greenspan, Alan, 1926–, American economist, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (1987–2006), b. New York City. Influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand , Greenspan is a strong supporter of the free market and an opponent of government intervention in
..... Click the link for more information. in 1987. He subsequently was successful as an investment banker, retiring in 1996.

In 1999 an official panel he headed that investigated Swiss banks' handling of the accounts of Holocaust victims issued a report that was critical of the banks but did not recommend any changes in a settlement reached in 1998 (see Holocaust Holocaust (hŏl`əkôst', hō`lə–)
..... Click the link for more information. ). Volcker became chairman of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation in 2000 and, in the wake of the Enron bankruptcy, headed (2002) an independent oversight board at Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm that was responsible for auditing Enron. He also chaired (2004–5) the UN's investigation into wrongdoing in the UN oil-for-food program for Iraq. Volcker is the author, with Toyoo Gyohten, of Changing Fortunes: The World's Money and the Threat to American Leadership (1992).

Bibliography

See biography by J. B. Treaster (2004); study by W. Greider (1988).