IMF Survey: Jacques Polak, Iconic Economist at the IMF, Dies at 95

IMF News, March 1, 2010

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Canonical URL: IMF Survey: Jacques Polak, Iconic Economist at the IMF, Dies at 95

Jacques Polak died February 26 at the age of 95.
Present at the creation of the International Monetary Fund in 1944; member of the Dutch delegation to the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944.
Joined the IMF in 1947 as a member of its Research Department.
Became Research Director in 1958.
Added the position of Economic Counsellor in 1966.
Retired formally in 1979, left the Fund’s employ in early 1980, and served as Executive Director for the Netherlands in 1981.
Served as president of the IMF’s Per Jacobsson Foundation from 1987 to 1997.
Maintained an advisory role and came to the IMF several times a week until late 2007.

Credited with providing the intellectual foundation for the IMF’s basic economic approach.
Instrumental in the development of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), described as "the international reserve asset that was utilized as recently as last year to bolster international liquidity during the global financial crisis."
Developed the Polak Model in 1957:
- Explained a country’s balance of payments in monetary terms.
- Located the source of balance of payments problems in domestic credit creation.
- Gave the IMF the ability to prescribe steps a nation in economic distress should take to correct balance of payments problems.
- Praised by Mohsin Khan as a model that "straddles both theory and operational work."
Advised then-Managing Director Jacques de Larosière during a U.S. dollar crisis following his formal retirement; advocated for a "substitution account" to allow countries to exchange unwanted dollars for SDRs—proposal lost momentum when the dollar strengthened.

Native of the Netherlands.
Began studies in accounting, shifted to economics during the Depression.
Studied under Jan Tinbergen and followed him to the League of Nations in Geneva in 1937.
Survived a journey from Geneva across occupied France, Spain and Portugal to the United States in 1940 to continue planning work at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.
Worked for the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C., participating in planning sessions that preceded the Bretton Woods conference.

Named by IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn as "an iconic figure in the long history of the International Monetary Fund" whose career "spanned seven decades" and who was "a leader of critical thought during the post-war evolution of the global economy."
The IMF named its annual research conference after Dr. Polak; Strauss-Kahn: "This conference will remain a testimony to his service to the IMF and the global monetary system."
Described as one of the last surviving participants in the Bretton Woods Conference.

IMF Survey: Jacques Polak, Iconic Economist at the IMF, Dies at 95 — IMF Survey online, March 1, 2010.