Allan Meltzer, whose comprehensive “A History of the Federal Reserve” has made him a particularly adept Fed analyst and critic, will receive the 2011 Truman Medal for Economic Policy in October.

The medal, awarded every two years, recognizes Meltzer’s career in economic policy development, research and education. Meltzer also has served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and Economic Policy Advisory Board, and he was chairman of the International Financial Institution Advisory Committee that proposed reforms to the International Monetary Fund.

Meltzer is a professor of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research....