Robert Hetzel is a senior economist and research advisor in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He studied under Milton Friedman and earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1975.

His research has been in academic publications such as the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, the Journal of Economics and Business, the Journal of Economic Literature, and Journal of Monetary Economics. His recent book is titled The Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve: A History (2008).