William Poole (Federal Reserve Bank president)
Encyclopedia
William Poole was the eleventh chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He took office on March 23, 1998 and began serving his full term on March 1, 2001. In 2007, he served as a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee
, bringing his District's perspective to policy discussions in Washington. Poole stepped down from the Fed on March 31, 2008.
Poole is Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute
, Senior Advisor to Merk Investments and, as of fall 2008, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Delaware
.
. He received an A.B. degree in 1959 from Swarthmore College
and an M.B.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D.
in economics
in 1966, both from the University of Chicago
. Swarthmore honored him with a Doctor of Laws degree in 1989.
Poole began his career at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
in 1964 and worked as a senior economist there from 1969 to 1974. In 1974, he joined the faculty at Brown University
, Providence, Rhode Island
, twice served as chairman of the economics department, and for five years directed the university's Center for the Study of Financial Markets and Institutions. He was the Herbert H. Goldberger
Professor of Economics there when he joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Throughout his career, Poole has served as a visiting scholar and an adviser at numerous institutions. From 1970 to 1990 he was a member of, and became senior adviser to, the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity. In 1980-81, he was a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia
. From 1982 to 1985, Poole was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers
and a member of the Academic Advisory Panels of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston. From 1985 until his appointment to the St. Louis Bank, Poole was an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute
and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee
. In 1991, Poole was Bank Mees and Hope Visiting Professor of Economics at Erasmus University
in Rotterdam. From 1989 to 1995, he served on the Congressional Budget Office
Panel of Economic Advisors. In addition, he has been an adviser and consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
, and a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia
.
Poole has engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including publishing numerous papers in professional journals. He has published two books, Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View, in 1978, and Principles of Economics, in 1991. During his 10 years at the St. Louis Fed, he gave over 150 speeches on a variety of topics.
Poole is a director of United Way of Greater St. Louis and member of the Webster University
Board of Trustees. He was a member of the Chancellor's Council of the University of Missouri-St. Louis 1999-2003. He was inducted into The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2005 and presented with the Adam Smith Award by the National Association for Business Economics in 2006. In 2007, the Global Interdependence Center
presented him its Frederick Heldring Award.
to make comments that were seen as supportive to the GSEs in order to stem fears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would require a government bailout.
Poole was the 2009 keynote speaker at the Tulane Corporate Law Institute
.
In a major article in April, 2009 about Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his role in the national and global financial crisis, William Poole was reported to have "said that the Fed, by effectively creating money out of thin air, not only runs the risk of 'massive inflation
' but has also done an end-run around Congressional power to control spending. Many of the programs 'ought to be legislated and shouldn’t be in the Federal Reserve at all,' he contended." The article reported that, "[a]s the Fed became the biggest vehicle for the bailout, its balance sheet more than doubled, from $900 billion in October 2007 to more than $2 trillion today."
Federal Open Market Committee
The Federal Open Market Committee , a committee within the Federal Reserve System, is charged under United States law with overseeing the nation's open market operations . It is the Federal Reserve committee that makes key decisions about interest rates and the growth of the United States money...
, bringing his District's perspective to policy discussions in Washington. Poole stepped down from the Fed on March 31, 2008.
Poole is Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
, Senior Advisor to Merk Investments and, as of fall 2008, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
.
Biography
Poole was born on June 19, 1937, in Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. He received an A.B. degree in 1959 from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
and an M.B.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in 1966, both from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Swarthmore honored him with a Doctor of Laws degree in 1989.
Poole began his career at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
in 1964 and worked as a senior economist there from 1969 to 1974. In 1974, he joined the faculty at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, twice served as chairman of the economics department, and for five years directed the university's Center for the Study of Financial Markets and Institutions. He was the Herbert H. Goldberger
Hills Department Stores
Hills Department Store was a Canton, Massachusetts, based discount department store chain. It was founded in 1957 in Youngstown, Ohio, and existed until 1999 when it was acquired by Ames. Most stores were located in Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, though the company had...
Professor of Economics there when he joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Throughout his career, Poole has served as a visiting scholar and an adviser at numerous institutions. From 1970 to 1990 he was a member of, and became senior adviser to, the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity. In 1980-81, he was a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia
Reserve Bank of Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia came into being on 14 January 1960 as Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank to it....
. From 1982 to 1985, Poole was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers
Council of Economic Advisers
The Council of Economic Advisers is an agency within the Executive Office of the President that advises the President of the United States on economic policy...
and a member of the Academic Advisory Panels of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston. From 1985 until his appointment to the St. Louis Bank, Poole was an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee
Shadow Open Market Committee
The Shadow Open Market Committee is an independent, monetarist economic analysis committee founded in 1973 by Profs. Karl Brunner, from the University of Rochester, and Allan Meltzer, from Carnegie Mellon University, named after the Federal Open Market Committee , of which it is often critical...
. In 1991, Poole was Bank Mees and Hope Visiting Professor of Economics at Erasmus University
Erasmus University
Erasmus University Rotterdam is a university in the Netherlands, located in Rotterdam. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th century humanist and theologian...
in Rotterdam. From 1989 to 1995, he served on the Congressional Budget Office
Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides economic data to Congress....
Panel of Economic Advisors. In addition, he has been an adviser and consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers most of Connecticut , Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. It is headquartered in the Federal Reserve Bank Building in Boston,...
, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is the federal bank for the twelfth district in the United States. The twelfth district is made up of nine western states-—Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington--plus the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa,...
, and a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia
Reserve Bank of Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia came into being on 14 January 1960 as Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank to it....
.
Poole has engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including publishing numerous papers in professional journals. He has published two books, Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View, in 1978, and Principles of Economics, in 1991. During his 10 years at the St. Louis Fed, he gave over 150 speeches on a variety of topics.
Poole is a director of United Way of Greater St. Louis and member of the Webster University
Webster University
Webster University is an American non-profit private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools...
Board of Trustees. He was a member of the Chancellor's Council of the University of Missouri-St. Louis 1999-2003. He was inducted into The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2005 and presented with the Adam Smith Award by the National Association for Business Economics in 2006. In 2007, the Global Interdependence Center
Global Interdependence Center
The Global Interdependence Center is a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization that holds conferences and programming to increase global dialogue and promote free trade, in order to improve cooperation and understanding among nation states, with the goal of reducing international conflicts and...
presented him its Frederick Heldring Award.
Speaking out
In a July 10, 2008 interview with Bloomberg News discussing two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs)—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—Poole said, "Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent, that it is allowing these firms to continue to exist as bastions of privilege, financed by the taxpayer." The common and preferred equity shares of both GSEs declined sharply following Poole's comments, which prompted several Congressmembers, the OFHEO regulator, the Treasury Secretary, and President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to make comments that were seen as supportive to the GSEs in order to stem fears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would require a government bailout.
Poole was the 2009 keynote speaker at the Tulane Corporate Law Institute
Tulane Corporate Law Institute
The Tulane Corporate Law Institute is an annual two-day M&A and corporate law conference that takes place in downtown New Orleans every spring. It attracts the most high-profile lawyers and bankers from around the United States, as well as judges, journalists, and others who follow the dealmaking...
.
In a major article in April, 2009 about Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his role in the national and global financial crisis, William Poole was reported to have "said that the Fed, by effectively creating money out of thin air, not only runs the risk of 'massive inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
' but has also done an end-run around Congressional power to control spending. Many of the programs 'ought to be legislated and shouldn’t be in the Federal Reserve at all,' he contended." The article reported that, "[a]s the Fed became the biggest vehicle for the bailout, its balance sheet more than doubled, from $900 billion in October 2007 to more than $2 trillion today."
See also
- Jim Cramer comments about St. Louis Fed President
- Cato Institute bio
- Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie MacFederal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie MacThe federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refers to the placing into conservatorship of government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the U.S. Treasury in September 2008. It was one financial event among many in the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis.On September 6, 2008,...
- Global financial crisis of 2008–2009
- Financial crisis of 2007–2010