William C. Dudley

William C. Dudley
Born	1953
Occupation	Economist
Known for	President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2009–2018), Vice-chair of the Federal Open Market Committee

William C. Dudley (born 1953) is a prominent American economist who held the position of president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2009 until 2018 and served as vice-chair of the Federal Open Market Committee. He assumed this role on January 27, 2009, following Timothy F. Geithner’s departure to become United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Early life and education

Dudley was educated at the Williston Northampton School and completed his freshman year at Columbia University. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from New College of Florida in 1974, followed by a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982.

Career

From 1986 through 2007, Dudley was employed by Goldman Sachs, where he served as the chief U.S. economist. In 2007, Timothy Geithner, then president of the New York Fed, recruited Dudley to head the Markets Group, which is tasked with implementing monetary policy directives from the Federal Open Market Committee. Upon Geithner’s appointment as Treasury Secretary in 2009, Dudley became the tenth president of the New York Fed.

Since 2019, Dudley has held the position of senior research scholar at Princeton University’s Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies. He currently chairs the Bretton Woods Committee and holds memberships in both the Group of Thirty and the Council on Foreign Relations. Between 2009 and 2018, he was a member of the Bank for International Settlements Board of Directors and chaired its Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems from 2009 to 2012 as well as its Committee on the Global Financial System from 2012 to 2018.

Throughout his leadership at the New York Fed, Dudley collaborated extensively with Chairs Bernanke, Yellen, and Powell while serving as vice-chairman of the FOMC during 2009–2018.

Economic views

Dudley placed significant emphasis on how financial conditions influence monetary policy decisions and spearheaded initiatives at the New York Fed to enhance ethical standards and conduct within financial institutions. He identified incentives as fundamental factors shaping behavior, thereby affecting corporate culture and societal norms.

In 2002, Dudley contended that the Federal Reserve ought to have implemented tighter policies earlier and more forcefully during the period from 1996 to 1999 to reduce the severity of the downturn following the dot-com bubble burst.

He encountered criticism in 2011 after commenting on inflation trends; while prices for items such as iPads declined due to technological progress, essential goods did not experience similar decreases, leading to public disapproval.

Regarding the stock market decline in February 2018, Dudley downplayed its significance by referring to it as "small potatoes."

In December 2020, he cautioned about a potential inflation scare fueled by base effects and supply chain disruptions that could push inflation rates above 2%. He also criticized the Federal Reserve’s adoption of an average inflation targeting strategy, warning that it might postpone necessary policy tightening and result in more abrupt rate increases later on, thereby heightening recession risks.

Dudley led a Group of Thirty report addressing bank failures and liquidity risk released in January 2024 and authored a Bretton Woods Committee report focused on reforming cross-border payments published in December 2024. Since 2019, he has contributed opinion pieces as a columnist for Bloomberg.

Personal

Dudley resides in Cranford, New Jersey with his wife Ann, who actively participates in community volunteer work.

Additional resources

• Dudley Applies Crisis Expertise to Role at New York Fed, Bloomberg, January 27, 2009.