Canadian economist Robert Mundel, who is called the father of the Euro, a single European monetary system, died at the age of 88. According to local media such as’Il Sole 24 Ore’ on the 5th (local time), Professor Mundel closed his eyes at a hospital in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy, on the morning of the 4th, Easter after a long struggle.
Professor Mundel was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1932. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia (UVC) in Canada, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of London School of Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After passing through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1961, he became a professor of economics at the University of Chicago in 1966. He has held professorships at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University. Professor Mundel is the person who theoretically established the relationship between inflation, interest rates and growth. In particular, he led the theory of international trade in the world economics world in the 1960s by successively presenting the’optimal monetary region theory’ (1961) and’the monetary and fiscal policy theory under different interest rate regimes’ (1963).
Among them, the’optimal currency area theory’, which analyzes the most suitable region for using a single currency and the merits of a single currency, is evaluated as providing the theoretical basis for the introduction of a single currency in Europe.
Professor Mundel emphasized that a successful common monetary system can minimize the effects of inflation and unemployment. Instead, it was heard as a prerequisite that capital, labor, and goods can move freely between countries and that resources can be distributed through financial transfer. For this reason, Mundel was given nicknames such as’Euro Designer’ and’Euro’s Father’. In recognition of this, Mundel won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1999 when the euro was officially launched as a settlement currency. In addition, he was deeply involved in promoting economic integration in Europe, such as consulting at the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the European Monetary Commission in the 1970s. In 2008, it was noted that it was possible to establish a pan-Asian monetary system if Japan-China agreements and appropriate coordination were supported.
Professor Mundel visited Korea several times, including attending as a speaker at the World Knowledge Forum hosted by Maekyung Media Group in 2004.
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