doi:10.7916/d8-y25t-fj44Oral history interview with Mihály Simai, 2000Simai, Mihály, 1935-oral historiessound recordingssound recording - nonmusicalBrain drain--Developing countriesKeynesian economicsDevelopment economicsNon-governmental organizationsInternational financeHuman rights--Soviet UnionHungary History Revolution, 1956Soviet Union History 1985-1991Simai, Mihály, 1935-Nagy, Imre, 1896-1958United Nations Officials and employeesUnited Nations HistoryWorld Institute for Development Economics ResearchUnited Nations. Secretary-GeneralUnited Nations UniversityUnited States Institute of PeaceEarly years: 1952 graduate of Budapest University of Economics with international studies degree; member of populist student group, People's College; Career: Department of International Politics and Economics assistant professor; 1959-1960 employee of ECE; 1964-1968 Centre for Development Planning, Projection, and Policies; 1993-1995 Director of the UNU's World Institute for Development Economics Research; member of UN Committee on Public Administration, UNICEF Executive Board, Committee on Development Planning, and member of Advisory Board of the UN Staff College; professor at the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Budapest University of Economics; president of the Hungarian UN Association and the Hungarian National Committee of UNICEF; honorary president of the World Federation of UN Associations; author of and The Future of Global Governance and View from the 38th Floor, a sociography of UN; Themes: UN documents contraband reading in university; relationship with Prime Minister Imre Nagy; Yugoslavia report in 1956; Keynesian economics and western economic science; decolonization and economic independence; involvement in development economics and foreign trade; industrialization; UNITAR project on brain-drain; New International Economic Order (NIEO) and development decades; Soviet sphere of influence on the UN; innovation of NGO's; Soviet human rights performance; UN global conferences; relationship between academia and the UN; North-South divide in population, finance, technology, and environment; comparative analysis of Secretaries-Generals; Brentton Woods institutions and the UN system; involvement and leadership in UN University and UNU-WIDER (World-Institute for Development Economics Research); research fellow at U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP); Japan and UNU; collapse of Soviet economy; UN in transition and its post-Cold war vision and purpose