After cutting short his initial studies at the University of Virginia and serving in the United States Army, Black returned to UVA and earned a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate in economics. In 1955 he taught for one year at the University of Tennessee. He completed his Ph.D. dissertation in 1954 after beginning his work at the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank.
Career and community activities
At the Fed, Black became an assistant vice president, vice president, and first-vice president before becoming the president of the FRB Richmond branch. Black and his two successors as president of the Richmond Fed, J. Alfred Broaddus and Jeffrey Lacker, discussed in an interview for the Richmond Times-Dispatch the changes that occurred in economic trends, the banking community, and the city of Richmond during their tenures at the bank. According to Charles L. Weise, in April 1978, following President Carter's announcement of an anti-inflation package, the economistStephen Axilrod, who was the FRB Staff Director for Monetary and Financial Policy, argued that a reduction in the target range for M1 would add credibility to the administration's inflation targets, while an increase in ranges "would not appear supportive" of the program. Robert P. Black, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, urged the Federal Open Market Committee to focus on inflation to take advantage of the fact that "everybody thinks that the administration, Congress, and the Federal Reserve are all committed to fighting inflation as a primary target." The Fed did indeed begin to tighten in the summer of 1978. By August the federal funds rate began to rise at a rate faster than the increase in inflation for the first time since the 1974 disinflation attempt. In 1990, Black, who was considered an "inflation hawk" testified in support of United States House of RepresentativesJoint Resolution 409, sponsored by Congressman Stephen Neal, a Democrat from North Carolina, which would have required the Federal Reserve Bank to achieve zero inflation within five years of passage. He was the first economist to become a Richmond FRB president. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond his opinion as an inflation hawk was highly respected, and he was often interviewed about the direction of the U.S. economy. He served on the board of directors of the Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital, Retreat Health Systems, the Virginia Inter-Government Institute, the Governor's Commission on Defense Conversion and Economic Adjustment, and the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission. He was a member of the advisory boards of the Health Corporation of Virginia, the Center for Advanced Studies of the University of Virginia, and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Educational Foundation. He served on the board of governors and executive committee of the Capital Area Assembly and was a board trustee of the Academy for Economic Education and board chairman of Virginia United Methodist Homes.
Publications and speeches
Robert P. Black's contributions to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Economic Review include:
