Oral history interview with Jacques J. Polak, 2000
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- Name
- Polak, J. J. (Jacques Jacobus), 1914-2010 (Interviewee)
- Emmerij, Louis (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Jacques J. Polak, 2000
- Abstract
- Born in Holland. Education: Primary and Secondary school in Rotterdam, Erasmiaans Gymnaisum, doctoral in Economics Amsterdam University, 1932-1937. Career: research assistant to Jan Tinbergen at League of Nations (Geneva), October 1937; assistant to Tjalling Koopman at League of Nations (Geneva), 1938; Princeton University Institute for Advanced Studies (affiliated with League of Nations), 1940; Sh ipping, Finance, and Trade Mission, Division of Netherlands Embassy, April 1943; Bretton Woods Conference, Summer 1944; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) Assistant Financial Advisor and Economic Advisor to Director General Herbert Lehman and Fiorello LaGuardia, late 1944-1947; International Monetary Fund (IMF) Senior Economist and Director of Research (1958), 1947-1979; Compensatory Finance Facility and special drawing rights (SDRs) established under Polak's direcotorship; Retired, 1979; Special Assistant to Managing Director, 1979-1980; Executive Director, 1981; Second Retirement, 1986; Jacobsson Foundation Consultant to Louis Emmeriji (1986). Influence of Great Depression, gilder devaluation, Keynesian economics, and Professor Jan Tinbergen on economics study; significance of League of Nations in economic and monetary research on IMF, UN, and Bretton Woods Conference development; Bretton Woods Conference history; UN and IMF relationship; differences between IMF and World Bank; evolution of IMF and World Bank monetary policy; future of monetary policy; IMF involvement in Latin America, decolonized Africa, and post-soviet Eastern Europe
- Collection Name
- United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
- Subjects
- Economists; Depressions--1929--Netherlands; Monetary policy; International finance; International economic relations; Polak, J. J. (Jacques Jacobus), 1914-2010; United Nations Officials and employees; International Monetary Fund Officials and employees; League of Nations; United Nations History; International Monetary Fund; World Bank; United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference Bretton Woods, N.H.) (1944
- Format
- oral histories; sound recordings
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2000
- Note (Biographical)
- Economist
- Note
- Interviewed by Louis Emmerij on March 15, 2000
- Note (Provenance)
- Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 13684902
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Time-Based Media
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-pc5y-1566
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.