Exemplary Economists: Volume I: North America.

Abstract

The two volumes make fascinating reading. In volume I, we encounter twenty economists who were born, or have spent the greater part of their lives, in North America. They all describe their life as an economist. They inform us about their personal background, their views, their professional career and about scholars who influenced them. They all reflect on the period they went through. The oldest is Jacques J. Polak, born in 1914; the youngest is William H. Lazonick, born in 1945. Two contributors died in the meantime: Zvi Griliches and G. S. Maddala. Of the other authors, I mention R. Dorfman, M. Perlman, R. G. Lipsey, A. H. Meltzer, R. E. Quandt, P. B. Kenen and D. C. Mueller. Let me restrict my remarks on Volume I to Polak, Perlman and Griliches. This choice has the major disadvantage of neglecting many other sophisticated chapters on individuals. Polak originates from Holland. He studied economics at the University of Amsterdam, wrote his thesis on public works as a form of business cycle policy, with H. Frijda as his thesis supervisor in 1937 and became assistant of Jan Tinbergen at the League of Nations in Geneva. At the time, Tinbergen was engaged in econometric testing of business cycle theories. Polak describes his intensive collaboration with Tinbergen. In 1940, Polak moved with his family to the USA. After the war, he joined the staff of the IMF in 1947, after being offered a chair in macro‐economics at the University of Amsterdam. He stayed at the Fund until 1980. In 1981, he succeeded Onno Ruding as director of the Executive Board. Over the years, Polak was involved in research, direction of research, administration and policy work. Well known are Polak's studies on the exchange rates. Of even greater significance is his work on the monetary approach to the balance of payments. It dates back to his dissertation, Kahn's multiplier and a suggestion of John Maurice Clark. Polak also acknowledges the influence of the Dutch Central Banker, M. W. Holtrop. Other topics Polak dealt with are international liquidity and the international monetary system. In reading this chapter, the reader gains a thorough picture of the development of international monetary and financial policy after the Second World War.