Walter Braddock Hickman (April 11, 1911 – November 28, 1970) was President of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-based headquarters of the U.S. Federal Reserve System's Fourth Federal Reserve Districts, District. The district is composed of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky ...

from May 1, 1963, to November 28, 1970 (died in office).

Biography

A native of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, Hickman graduated from the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

and earned his Ph.D. in economics from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1937. He was a member of the faculties of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, and the

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. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Hickman became a member of the research staff and director of the Corporate Bond Research Project of the National Bureau of Economic Research and published three books on corporate finance. Hickman conducted some of the earliest and most complete studies of credit risk in corporate bond markets, most notably his 1958 book, ''Corporate bond quality investor experience''. Historical Default Rates of Corporate Bond Issuers, 1920 – 1996
Moody's Investors Services, 1997 These credit studies have been credited by

Michael Milken Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for High-yield debt, high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony ...

for sparking his theories on

junk bonds In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit even ...

in the 1970s. Hickman was supervisor of economic studies at the

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from 1953 to 1956, joining

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as director of economic research in 1956. He was appointed senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in 1960 and was named president in 1963. Hickman, who always retained a close interest in economic research, was appointed by U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

to the National Commission on Federal Statistics in 1970.

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

*http://www.clevelandfed.org
Statements and Speeches of W. Braddock Hickman
from 1964 to 1970 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickman, W. Braddock 1911 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American financial businesspeople Businesspeople from Baltimore Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland presidents Johns Hopkins University alumni Princeton University faculty Rutgers University faculty University of Richmond alumni

Biography

Selected publications

References

Further reading

External links