Peter Kenen
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Peter Bain Kenen (November 30, 1932 – December 17, 2012) was an American economist, who was the Walker Professor of Economics and International Finance at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations.


Early life

Kenen was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1932, and attended
The Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...
. He earned his B.A. from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1954 and his Ph.D. from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1958. He taught at Columbia from 1957 to 1971, where he served as chairman of the Department of Economics and was named as provost of the university. While at Columbia, Kenen was a resident of
Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...
.Shenker, Israel
"Columbia Names Kenen Provost; Economist Protested the S.D.S."
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', July 22, 1969. Accessed November 17, 2011. "A resident of Teaneck, N.J., Professor Kenen is married and has three children - Joanne, 11; Marc, 9, and Stephanie, 5."
He studied at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
in 1957.


Career

He was director of the International Finance Section at Princeton from 1971 to 1999. He is best known for his work on the theory of
optimum currency area In economics, an optimum currency area (OCA) or optimal currency region (OCR) is a geographical region in which it would maximize economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. The underlying theory describes the optimal cha ...
s, in which he argued that groups of countries with diversified domestic production are more likely to constitute optimum currency areas than groups whose members are highly specialized. He was one of the first to advocate floating exchange rates for small countries. Kenen's publications include ''British Monetary Policy and the Balance of Payments'', which won the David A. Wells Prize at Harvard; ''Asset Markets, Exchange Rates and Economic Integration'' (with Polly Allen); ''The Theory of Optimum Currency Areas: An Eclectic View''; ''Managing Exchange Rates''; ''Economic and Monetary Union in Europe''; ''The International Financial Architecture''; and ''International Economic and Financial Cooperation'' (with Jeffrey Shafer, Nigel Wicks, and Charles Wyplosz). Recent publications include ''Regional Monetary Integration'' (with Ellen E. Meade), published in 2008 (Cambridge). He edited several books, including ''Managing the World Economy'' and ''Understanding Interdependence'', and was co editor of the two volume ''Handbook of International Economics''. He published numerous articles in scholarly journals, many of which have been reprinted in two volumes: ''Essays in International Economics'' and ''Exchange Rates and the Monetary System''. In 1971, he co-authored the book ''International Economics'' with . Kenen was a consultant to the Council of Economic Advisers, the
Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
, the
Federal Reserve 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 ...
, 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 glo ...
, and the
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
. He was a member of President Kennedy's Task Force on Foreign Economic Policy, the Review Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics, the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the
Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sec ...
. He was president of the Eastern Economic Association in 2000–01. He held research fellowships from the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, the
Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...
, and the
German Marshall Fund The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union. Founded in 1972 through a gift from the We ...
, and he was a fellow of the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social and ...
, a Guggenheim Fellow, and Ford Research Professor at the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
. In 1983–84, he was a professorial fellow at the Australian National University; in 1987–88, he was a visiting fellow at the
Royal Institute of International Affairs Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
; in 1991–92, he held the Houblon-Norman Fellowship at the Bank of England; and in 2002, he was professorial fellow at the
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...
and the
Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...
.


Selected publications


Books

* ''Managing the world economy: fifty years after Bretton Woods''. Peterson Institute Press, 1994. * ''Economic and monetary union in Europe: Moving beyond Maastricht'', Cambridge University Press, 1995. * ''The international economy'', Cambridge University Press, 2000. * ''The international financial architecture: What's new? What's missing?'', Vol. 61. Peterson Institute, 2001. * ''Regional monetary integration'', EE Meade, 2007.


Academic papers

* "Employment Fluctuations and Wage Rigidity", Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, vol. 1980, no. 1, 1980. * "Measuring and analyzing the effects of short-term volatility in real exchange rates", The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1986. * "Currency Internationalisation: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis and Prospects for the Future in Asia and the Pacific", BIS Paper No. 61, 2012. * "Nature, capital, and trade." in ''Essays in International Economics'', Princeton University Press, 2019. * "The demand for international reserves", in ''Essays in International Economics''. Princeton University Press, 2019.


Death

Kenen died on December 17, 2012, after a battle with emphysema. He was 80 years old.


References


External links


Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenen, Peter 1932 births Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard University alumni International economists Economists from New York (state) Alumni of the London School of Economics Columbia University faculty Princeton University faculty Scientists from Cleveland People from Teaneck, New Jersey The Bronx High School of Science alumni 2012 deaths Economists from Ohio Economists from New Jersey