Data & Visuals

Tough calls: Lessons from Volcker, inflation, and the Fed’s crossroads 

“The standard of living of the average American has to decline,” he said. “I don’t think you can escape  that.” These were the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as he testified before Congress in October 1979. Inflation was 13%. Volcker’s predecessors, Arthur Burns and William Miller, had  failed to control prices. Stagflation gripped the United States. We were in an economic death spiral.