Robert Mundell

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Robert Mundell

Robert Alexander Mundell
Born	October 24, 1932 Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Residence	USA
Nationality	Canadian
Field	Economics
Institution	Columbia University
Alma mater	MIT
Academic advisor	Charles Kindleberger
Known for	Mundell-Fleming model Optimum currency areas Research on the gold standard
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize in Economics (1999)

Robert Alexander Mundell CC (born October 24, 1932) is a professor of economics at Columbia University. Mundell was born in Canada and is a graduate of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He attended MIT, where he obtained his PhD in Economics in 1956. He also attended the London School of Economics and was a top performer in his years there. He went on to win the 1999 Nobel Prize in Economics. Since 1974 he has been a professor in the Economics department at Columbia University; since 2001 he has held Columbia's highest academic rank -- University Professor. He was also economics professor at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. In 2002 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada . In June 2005 he was awarded the Global Economics Prize from the World Economics Institute in Kiel, Germany and in September 2005 he was made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce del Reale Ordine del Merito sotto il Titolo di San Ludovico by Principe Don Carlo Ugo di Borbone Parma.

The Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship in the Zhongguancun district of Beijing, China is named in his honor.

Among his major contributions are:

• Theoretical work on optimum currency areas.
• Contributions to the development of the Euro
• Helped start the movement known as supply-side economics.
• Historical research on the operation of the gold standard in different eras.
• Predicted the inflation of the 1970s.
• Mundell-Fleming model
• Mundell-Tobin effect

Contents 1 Work on international monetary flows 2 The TV personality 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Work on international monetary flows

Mundell is best known in politics for his support of tax cuts and supply side economics; however, among economists it is his work on currency areas and international exchange rates which caused him to be awarded the Bank of Sweden prize. Nevertheless, supply side economics featured prominently in his Bank of Sweden prize speech.

In the 1960s Canada, of which Mundell is a native, floated its exchange - this caused Mundell to begin investigating the results of floating exchange rates, a phenomenon not widely seen since the 1930's "Stockholm School" successfully lobbied Sweden to leave the gold standard. He has 6 grandchildern including Lex Mundell, Lily Mundell, Alice Mundell, Lucy Mundell, Ray Barry, and Liam Barry.

In 1962 he co-authored the Mundell-Fleming model of exchange rates, and noted that it was impossible to have domestic autonomy, price stability, and free capital flows - that two, and only two, of these objectives could be met. The model is, in effect, an extension of the IS/LM model applied to currency rates.

According to Mundell's analysis:

• Discipline under the Bretton Woods system was more due to the US Federal Reserve than to the discipline of gold.
• Demand side fiscal policy would be ineffective in restraining central banks under a floating exchange rate system.
• Single currency zones relied, therefore, on similar levels of price stability, where a single monetary policy would suffice for all.

His analysis led to his conclusion that it was a disagreement between Europe and the United States over the rate of inflation, partially to finance the Vietnam War, and that Bretton Woods disintegrated because of the undervaluing of gold and the consequent monetary discipline breakdown. There is a famous point/counter-point over this issue between Mundell and Milton Friedman (See Mundell-Friedman debate)

This work would later lead to the creation of the Euro, and his prediction that leaving the Bretton Woods system would lead to "stagflation" so long as highly progressive income tax rates applied. In 1974 he advocated a drastic tax reduction and a flattening of income tax rates.

Mundell, though lionized by some conservatives, has many of his harshest critics from the right: he denies the need for a fixed gold based currency or currency board - though he often recommends this as a policy in hyper-inflationary environments - and he is both a fiscal and balance of payments deficit hawk. He is well known for stating that in a floating exchange rate system, expansion of the money supply can only come about through a positive balance of payments.

[edit] The TV personality

Robert Mundell has appeared on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman. His first appearance was in October 2002 (show #1891) where he gave The Top 10 List on “Ways My Life has Changed Since Winning the Nobel Prize." In March of 2004 (show #2144) he told “You might be a redneck” jokes followed in May of 2004 (show #2162) with “Yo Mama” jokes. In September of 2004 (show # 2238) he appeared again, this time to read excerpts from Paris Hilton's memoir at random moments throughout the show. In November of 2005 (show #2466) he told a series of Rodney Dangerfield's jokes. On February 7, 2006(show #2505) he read Grammy nominated song lyrics, the night before CBS aired the 48th Grammys.

Robert Mundell has also appeared on China Central Television's popular Lecture Room series.

[edit] See also

• List of economists
• Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
• Optimal Currency Area - Eurozone

[edit] External links

• Robert Mundell's homepage
• Single Global Currency Association - Bretton Woods 2024
• his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas.
• Economista canadiense. Profesor en la Columbia University de New York.
• The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences
• The Kiel Institute Global Economy Prize
• Nobel biography for laureate Mundell

Persondata
NAME	Mundell, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Economist
DATE OF BIRTH	October 24, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kingston, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH