Paul Adolph Volcker (born September 5, 1927), economist, is best-known as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan (from August 1979 to August 1987). Educated at Princeton, Harvard and the London School of Economics, Mr. Volcker served as under-secretary of the Treasury from 1969 to 1974 and president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1975 to 1979.

Volcker's Fed was responsible for ending the United States' inflation crisis of the early 1980s. This was achieved by constricting the money supply through a sharp increase in interest rates. By 1985, inflation was considerably lowered from 9 percent in 1980 to 3.2 percent in 1983. Nevertheless, deflation left a lasting negative effect on the economy of the Industrial Midwest.

In April 2004, the United Nations assigned him to research possible corruption in the Iraqi Oil for Food program. In the report summarising the research, Volcker criticized Kojo Annan, son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA , Annan's employer, for trying to conceal their relationship.