Here is what I wrote up:
Melchior Palyi was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 14, 1892. When=
he
died in Chicago on July 28, 1970 he had had three careers: business =
and
banking, university lecturer, and columnist.
Palyi received his Master's in Law from the University of Budapest an=
d the
doctorate in economics from the University of Munich in 1915. He wor=
ked at
the Austro-Hungarian National Bank and the Hungarian Ministry of Agri=
culture
between 1915 and 1918. During 1921-1923 he taught at the Universitie=
s of
G=F6ttingen and Kiel and at the Handelshochschule in Berlin (where Ro=
y F.
Harrod attended his lectures). During 1926-1928 he was a visiting pr=
ofessor
at Oxford, the University of California at Los Angeles, and Chicago. =
He
served as chief economist of the Deutsche Bank during 1928-1933 and a=
dvisor
to the Reichbank and managing director of its Institute for Monetary=
Research during 1931-1933. Upon the ascendancy of the Nazis to power=
in
1933, he emigrated first to the United Kingdom-serving as guest econo=
mist at
Midland Bank and lecturer at University College, Oxford-and then to t=
he
United States, serving again as a visiting professor at the Universit=
y of
Chicago between 1933-1937 and, after 1940, as lecturer at Northwester=
n
University. Palyi was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune during 196=
1-1968
and for the Commercial and Financial Chronicle during 1968-1970. In =
the
1956 Handbook of the American Economic Association he self-identified=
his
fields as international economics, and money, credit and banking. Hi=
s books
included Principles of Mortgage Banking Regulation in Europe (1934), =
The
Chicago Credit Market: Organization and Institutional Structure (193=
7),
Creeping Paralysis of Europe (1947), Compulsory Medical Care and the =
Welfare
State (1950), The Dollar Dilemma: Perpetual Aid to Europe? (1954), M=
anaged
Money at the Crossroads (1958), An Inflation Primer (1961), and The T=
wilight
of Gold, 1914-1936: Myths and Realities (1972). Palyi was a contrib=
utor to
Adam Smith, 1776-1926 (1928), having earlier been co-author of Hauptp=
robleme
der Soziologie: Erinnerungsgabe f=FCr Max Weber in Gemeinschaft (192=
3) and
co-author and compiler of Lujo Brentano: Eine Bio-bibliographie (192=
4). A
search on JSTOR indicates the following record: journal articles, 7 =
(2 AER,
1 JPE, 3 JBUC, 1 QJE); panel discussions, 4 (all AER); book chapter, =
1; book
reviews, 36 (27 JPE, 7 JBUC, 1 APSR, 1 JFIN; reviews of his books, 7;=
citations to him or his work, 14; his reply, 1.
Palyi was a committed supporter of the gold standard and an opponent =
of
central-bank monetary management (including G. F. Knapp's "state theo=
ry of
money"), especially of John Maynard Keynes, and of any institution th=
at he
perceived to be socialist in nature.
Warren J. Samuels
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