Allan H. Meltzer

Allan Harold Meltzer was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 6, 1928. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University in 1948 and master's and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1957, he became an assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration, later named the Tepper School of Business. At his death, he held a professorship there in political economy that was named for him. He was a conservative economist who strongly opposed government bailouts. He was a consultant to congressional committees, the Federal Reserve System, the Treasury Department, foreign governments, and central banks. Under President Ronald Reagan, he was an acting member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He wrote more than 10 books including A History of the Federal Reserve and Why Capitalism? He received many awards including the Harry Truman Medal for Public Policy and the Truman Medal for Economic Policy. He died on May 8, 2017 at the age of 89.