What is Paul Volcker's Net Worth?
Paul Volcker was an American economist who had a net worth of $15 million at the time of his death. Volcker died on December 8, 2019, at the age of 92. After serving as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979, he was the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. Later in his career, from 2009 to 2011, Volcker chaired the Economic Recovery Advisory Board created by President Barack Obama.
According to his 1982 wealth disclosure, Paul Volcker was worth a surprisingly low $52,000 at the time (without adjusting for inflation).
Paul's biggest government salary was $89,000. When he entered the private sector as President of investment firm Wolfensohn & Co, his base salary was $1 million per year, the same as $3 million per year after adjusting for inflation. When the company was acquired in 1995, Paul made more in one day than he had in 30 years as a public servant.
Early Life and Education
Paul Volcker Jr. was born on September 5, 1927 in Cape May, New Jersey to Paul Sr. and Alma. He was raised in Teaneck, where his father served as the township's inaugural municipal manager. Volcker had four elder sisters named Ruth, Louise, Elinor, and Virginia, although Elinor passed away in infancy before Volcker was born. After graduating from Teaneck High School in 1945, he attended Princeton University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in public policy in 1949. Volcker spent a summer as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before he enrolled in graduate school at Harvard University. From Harvard, he obtained his master's degree in political economy in 1951. Volcker subsequently attended the London School of Economics under the Rotary Foundation's Ambassadorial Scholarships program.
Career Beginnings
Following his time at the London School of Economics, Volcker became a full-time economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he had previously done two assistantships. He worked there from 1952 to 1957, and then became an economist at Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1962, Volcker was named director of financial analysis in the Department of the Treasury; the next year, he became deputy under secretary for monetary affairs. Volcker went on to return to Chase in 1965, this time as vice president and director of planning.
Positions in the 1970s
From 1969 to 1974, Volcker worked on international monetary affairs in the Department of the Treasury during the Nixon administration. During his tenure, in 1971, he played an integral role in Nixon's decision to cancel the convertibility of the US dollar to gold, a measure that led to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of monetary management. After leaving the Treasury, Volcker spent a year as a senior fellow at his alma mater Princeton University. He then became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a position he held from 1975 to 1979.
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Chairman of the Federal Reserve
In the summer of 1979, Volcker was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, succeeding G. William Miller. He was chosen for his ability to tackle inflation. Volcker was nominated for a second term in 1983 during the Reagan administration. Under Volcker's leadership, the Federal Reserve board was credited with curbing the high rate of inflation in the United States, which peaked at 14.8% in early 1980. However, the board's monetary policies also led to an increase in the prime rate, which contributed to the 1980-82 recession. Widespread protests occurred in response to the high interest rates, with indebted farmers using their tractors to blockade the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. In 1987, Volcker was fired by the Reagan administration, and by the 1990s the US current account was in permanent deficit.
After the Federal Reserve
Following his tenure in the Federal Reserve, Volcker became chairman of the New York advisory and investment firm Wolfensohn & Co. Later, in 1993, he chaired the Group of Thirty report on the derivatives market, and in 1996 he chaired the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons, better known as the Volcker Commission. Volcker helped form the Commission to investigate the dormant Swiss bank accounts of Jewish Holocaust victims. At the beginning of the new millennium, Volcker chaired the IFRS Trustees, a not-for-profit funding arm of the International Accounting Standards Board. The following year, he joined the New York-based think tank the Conference Board. There, he served as a senior advisor supporting research on corporate governance and economic policy. Meanwhile, Volcker served as a director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America between 2000 and 2004. In 2006, he was appointed chairman of the board of trustees of the Washington-based financial advisory body the Group of Thirty.
From 2009 to 2011, Volcker chaired the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which was created by President Obama in response to the subprime mortgage crisis. With Obama, he introduced the so-called Volcker Rule, a proposition to prevent commercial banks from owning and investing in hedge funds and private equity, as well as to limit their trading from their own accounts. Among his other late-career activities, Volcker served as an honorary co-chairman of the World Justice Project, and founded the nonprofit Volcker Alliance to conduct research and improve government services. Elsewhere, he sat on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan public policy group in Washington.
Personal Life and Death
Volcker was married to Barbara Bahnson from 1954 until her passing in 1998. Together, they had two children named Janice and James. Volcker married his second wife, Anke Dening, in early 2010.
On December 8, 2019, Volcker died in New York City. He was 92 years of age.