Projo Biz Blog

William Poole, the former Brown University professor who developed a reputation as an inflation hawk at the Federal Reserve, will retire today as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Poole, 70, will be replaced by James B. Bullard, the deputy director of research and monetary analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Poole has accepted positions at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington and the University of Delaware.

Poole often opposed his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committe and became one of the leading inflation fighters. Poole dissented from the FOMC's Jan. 21 emergency decision to reduce rates three quarters of a point, saying he preferred to wait until the Jan. 29-30 meeting.

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