, Columnist
Will Jerome Powell Be Like Volcker or Burns?
The Fed chair can’t escape the fundamental trade-off: Ensuring victory against inflation will require economic sacrifice.
How will he be remembered?
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US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell faces a crucial choice as the central bank battles the worst bout of inflation since the 1970s: What kind of chair will he be? A Paul Volcker, who took interest rates ever higher in an uncompromising effort to get prices under control? Or an Arthur Burns, who acted more timidly, in the ultimately futile hope that a less austere approach might be sufficient to do the job?
So far, he’s looking more like the latter.