Who is Jerome Powell? Portrait of the 16th Chairman of the Fed

An important figure in the financial sector who has repeatedly made decisions that have a great impact on the global economy is Jerome Powell. So who is Jerome Powell? Let's learn about this outstanding character through the following article.
Who is Jerome Powell?
Jerome Powell is the 16th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (FED), and has also assumed the position of Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) since February 2018.
His full name is Jerome Hayden Jay Powell, born on February 4, 1953 in Washington, D.C, USA. In December 2021, Jerome Powell made headlines when President Barack Obama appointed him as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. A move that has never happened in more than three decades (since 1988) when a President proposed a member from an opposition party for this position.
After that, former US President Donald Trump continued to nominate him for the position of FED Chairman. This decision was passed by the US Senate with a vote of 85-12 on January 23, 2018, replacing Ms. Janet Yellen (15th President).
Portrait of Jerome Powell
The starting point is no economics degree Unlike previous Chairmen, Jerome Powell is the first person who does not possess an economics degree (which has been considered the norm for the position of Chairman from 1987 to present). He comes from a family with a tradition of studying Law. Powell's maternal grandfather was the dean of the Law School at Columbus University and later became a lecturer at Georgetown Law School. Jerome Powell's father was also a lawyer.
In 1975, he completed his studies in Politics at Princeton University and went on to earn a Law degree from Georgetown University. His career began at a law firm, before moving on to work for several major investment funds in New York (Carlyle Group, Severn Capital Partners and the Global Environment Fund).
During the above period, Powell did not record great achievements, but the work he went through left him with foundational knowledge for the future position of FED Chairman.
Become Chairman of the Federal Reserve (FED)
In 1990, Jerome Powell's political turning point came when he joined and worked as a secretary at the US Treasury Department. After 2 years, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of Finance, responsible for supervising the operations of domestic banks under President George H.W.Bush.
From 2011 to 2017, he served as the Federal Government's official representative in shaping United States monetary policy. In 2018, he officially became Chairman of the Federal Reserve and has held this position until now.
During his term, Jerome Powell's policies were identified as having many similarities with previous Chairwoman Janet Yellen, such as proposing slow interest rate increases and forecasting the US inflation rate to reach 2%. .. However, his policies are somewhat more suitable for the current US economy.
Tom Porcelli, economist at RBC Capital Markets, described Jerome Powell as the “Republican version” of Janet Yellen.
Jerome Powell and outstanding monetary policies
COVID-19 epidemic period (2020-2021)
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the period 2020 - 2021, the epidemic has caused heavy human damage and paralyzed economic, trade and investment activities globally. According to statistics from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), world economic growth decreased by 3.5% in 2020, much higher than the 0.1% level of the 2008 financial crisis.
Faced with that situation, Jerome Powell implemented a series of quick intervention measures such as reducing the regulatory interest rate to 0.25%, expanding the asset purchase program, buying back corporate bonds, inject capital into the financial market, support the issuance of new bonds for large enterprises...
As a result, the FED has proven that monetary policy during this period is effective through indicators such as: GDP increased by 33.8% in Q3/2020 compared to the same period last year, the S&P 500 index increased by more than 90% from March/2020. 2020 to November 2021, the unemployment rate decreased from 14.7% in April 2020 to 3.8% in February 2023...
Overall, the FED's monetary policy during COVID-19 has created positive impacts not only on the US economy but also globally. However, this policy also caused high inflation in the following years.
Inflation situation in the period 2022 - 2023
In 2022, inflation in the United States reached 9.1% in June 2022, the highest level in 40 years (according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
To cope with rising inflation, the FED has implemented a series of tightening monetary policies, notably: Increasing interest rates:

• FED has increased interest rates 11 times from March 2022 to July 2023, bringing interest rates from 0.25% to 5.75%. According to CNBC, this is the fastest interest rate increase in 40 years.
• Narrowing spending: Total US budget spending in 2022 is 6.272 trillion USD, down 550 billion USD compared to 2021. This decrease is mainly due to the FED starting to scale back its large-scale asset purchase program for foreign investors. with support payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FED policy has contributed to controlling inflation in the United States, decreasing from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 6.5% in December 2023. However, this inflation level is still much higher than the FED's 2% target.
"Despite many difficulties and challenges, my colleagues and I always maintain our commitment to bringing inflation to 2% in a sustainable way."