Laurence H. Meyer
- Governor, Board of Governors, 1996–2002
Laurence H. Meyer served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from June 24, 1996, until January 31, 2002.
Meyer was born in the Bronx, New York. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1965 and his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970.
From 1969 to 1996, Meyer served as an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis. During that period, he also spent time as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and St. Louis. In 1982, Meyer cofounded an economic forecasting firm, Laurence H. Meyer & Associates, with two former students. In 1986, Meyer was named Top Forecaster of the Year by Business Week magazine and was also named as a recipient for the magazine’s Annual Forecast award in 1993 and 1996. In 1996, Meyer sold his stake in the firm, and it was renamed Macroeconomic Advisors.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton nominated Meyer to the Board of Governors. During much of his tenure at the Board of Governors, he served as chairman of the Board’s Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Affairs. In that role, he oversaw the Board’s regulatory implementation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its participation in negotiations toward a new international capital accord. In addition, Meyer led an effort to encourage many of the nation’s largest and most complex banking organizations to develop sophisticated risk-management techniques. Throughout his term, Meyer represented the Board of Governors in several international forums, including the Financial Stability Forum, the Economic Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
During his time at the Board of Governors, Meyer gave several noteworthy speeches, including "Federal Reserve Policy and the Transformation of the U.S. Banking System,” and "Economic Forecasting: Start with a Paradigm and End with a Story." On April 2, 1998, Meyer delivered a speech at Williamette University regarding public awareness of informational access to the Federal Reserve System’s most powerful committee. The speech, titled "Come with Me to the FOMC," detailed the history of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), its purposes and functions, and the impact it carries throughout the Federal Reserve System and across the United States.
Meyer has had numerous articles published in professional journals, has authored a textbook on macroeconomic modeling, and has testified before Congress on macroeconomic policy issues. Meyer is the author of the 2004 book, A Term at the Fed: An Insider’s View.
Currently, Meyer serves as a distinguished scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, as well as a senior managing director of the monetary policy insights team at Macroeconomic Advisors.
Written by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. See disclaimer.
