Palyi, Melchior, 1892-1970

Economist.

Melchior Palyi was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1892. He received his Doctorate in Economics from the University of Munich in 1915. From 1918 to 1933 Palyi taught at the University of Munich, the University of Goettingen and the University of Kiel. In 1927, he first came to the United States as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. 1928 saw Palyi as an economist at the Deutsche Bank. Until 1931, Palyi was also a Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Commerce in Berlin. For the next three years he held two posts important in the financial reconstruction of the German economy: he was the principal economic advisor to the Reichsbank and the Managing Director of the Institute for Currency Research, Berlin.

By 1933, Palyi had immigrated to the United States. He became a visiting professor and research economist at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin. During the years 1943-1944, Palyi gave a series of radio talks on WIND, dealing with economic and social problems caused by the war in Europe. In 1945, he became a war correspondent and wrote articles for the Chicago Tribune and the Jackson Citizen Patriot newspapers. After the war, Palyi returned to Chicago and continued teaching and lecturing.

The 1950s saw Palyi producing such works as Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare State (1950), The Dollar Dilemma: Perpetual Aid to Europe, and Managed Money at the Crossroads (1958). Palyi, as seen through his books and articles, represented the "conservative" faction of American economists during the middle of the 20th century.

In 1960, Melchior Palyi became a visiting professor and research economist at Northwestern University. From 1961 to 1968 Palyi wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Tribune entitled, "Comment," which dealt with various economic problems in the United States and the world as well as local problems. Also in 1961, Palyi produced a small but foresighted book that he entitled An Inflation Primer. This book attempted to get at the various causes for spiraling inflation and the accompanying recessionary periods. From 1962 to 1970, Palyi also wrote a regular column for the Chicago Commercial and Financial Chronicle which was entitled "Point of View."

Melchior Palyi, after 78 years of studying, advising, and teaching about world economics, died on July 29, 1970. In 1971 one of his greatest works was published posthumously. The Twilight of Gold dealt with a subject that fascinated Palyi all of his life: the gold standard. In this book he talks about the classical gold standard, the post-World War I monetary climate and its relationship to gold stabilization (which includes an interesting section entitled "Social Justice vs. Gold") and the New Gold Standard. "Prelude to Catastrophe" is a section which discusses flaws in the international credit structure and the American debt behemoth and the speculative euphoria. "Destabilization (1931-1936)" deals with the demise of the "Gold Bloc." The final section of the text proper deals with the demise of the gold standard. Additionally, there is a postscript entitled "Does History Repeat Itself?"