Barry Julian Eichengreen (born 1952) is an American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
and
economic historian
Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and in ...
who holds the title of
George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...
and
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, where he has taught since 1987. Eichengreen currently serves as a research associate at the
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
and as a Research Fellow at the
Centre for Economic Policy Research
The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, non‐partisan, pan‐European non‐profit organisation. Its mission is to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy‐relevant research, based soundly in e ...
.
Eichengreen's mother was
Lucille Eichengreen, a
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
survivor and author.
Career
Eichengreen has done research and published widely on the history and current operation of the international monetary and financial system. He received his
A.B. from
UC Santa Cruz in 1974. an
M.A. in economics, an
M.Phil. in economics, an M.A. in history, and a
Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
He was a senior policy advisor to the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster gl ...
in 1997 and 1998, although he has since been critical of the IMF. In 1997, he served as a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...
.
Research
His best known work is the book ''Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939'', Oxford University Press, 1992. In his own book on the
Great Depression,
Ben Bernanke
Ben Shalom Bernanke ( ; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Fed, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. Dur ...
summarized Eichengreen's thesis as follows:
The main evidence Eichengreen adduces in support of this view is the fact that countries that abandoned the gold standard earlier saw their economies recover more quickly.
His recent books include ''Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods'' (MIT Press 2006), ''The European Economy Since 1945'' (Princeton University Press 2007), ''Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System'' (Oxford University Press 2011), ''The Populist Temptation: Economic Grievance and Political Reaction in the Modern Era'' (Oxford University Press 2018),
and ''In Defense of Public Debt'' (Oxford University Press 2021).
His most cited paper is Bayoumi and Eichengreen "Shocking Aspects of European Monetary Unification" (1993) which argued that the European Union was less suitable as a Single Currency Area than the United States. This diagnosis was confirmed in 2011 when external shocks caused the
Eurozone
The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polic ...
Crisis.
He has been President of the
Economic History Association (2010–2011). In addition to this, he is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the
Centre for International Governance Innovation and a regular contributor to ''
Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, but are also distributed to a wi ...
'' since 2003. He was convener of th
Bellagio Group">Bellagio Group">Bellagio Group
from 2008-2020.
Publications
* ''Elusive Stability: Essays in the History of International Finance 1919–1939.'' Cambridge University Press, 1990
* ''Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939.'' Oxford University Press, 1992,
* ''International Monetary Arrangements for the 21st Century.'' Brookings Institution Press, 1994,
* ''Reconstructing Europe's Trade and Payments: The European Payments Union.'' University of Michigan Press, 1994,
* ''Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System.'' Princeton University Press, 1996, ; 2. Auflage ebd. 2008,
** ''Vom Goldstandard zum EURO. Die Geschichte des internationalen Währungssystems.'' Wagenbach, Berlin 2000,
* ''European Monetary Unification: Theory, Practice, Analysis.'' The MIT Press, 1997
* with José De Gregorio, Takatoshi Ito &
Charles Wyplosz: ''An Independent and Accountable IMF.'' Centre for Economic Policy Research, 1999,
* ''Toward A New International Financial Architecture: A Practical Post-Asia Agenda.'' Institute for International Economics, 1999,
* ''Financial Crises and What to Do About Them.'' Oxford University Press, 2002,
* with Erik Berglöf, Gérard Roland,
Guido Tabellini & Charles Wyplosz: '' Built to Last: A Political Architecture for Europe.'' CEPR, 2003,
* ''Capital Flows and Crises.'' The MIT Press, 2004,
* ''Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods.'' The MIT Press, 2006,
* ''The European Economy Since 1945: Co-ordinated Capitalism and Beyond.'' Princeton University Press, 2008,
* ''Exorbitant Privilege'', Oxford University Press, New York 2010
* ''From Miracle to Maturity: The Growth of the Korean Economy'', Harvard University Asia Center. 2012,
* ''Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, The Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History'', Oxford University Press, New York 2015
* ''How Global Currencies Work: Past, Present, and Future'' 2017
* ''The Populist Temptation: Economic Grievance and Political Reaction in the Modern Era'', Oxford University Press, New York 2018
* ''In Defense of Public Debt'', Oxford University Press, New York 2021
References
External links
Barry Eichengreenat the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
Column archiveat
Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, but are also distributed to a wi ...
Column archiveat ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
''
Barry Eichengreenat ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econ ...
''
Barry Eichengreenat
East Asia Forum
*
*
Barry Eichengreen in the Editorial Board of''
Financial History Review''
* ''The Use and Abuse of Monetary History'', April 2013 – A guest commentary about the US
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
and the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...
's monetary policie
at ''
CFO Insight''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eichengreen, Barry
1952 births
Living people
21st-century American economists
Economic historians
Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
American people of German-Jewish descent
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Institute for New Economic Thinking
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Presidents of the Economic History Association