°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê

The Cold War was a harsh time for economics with its ideologues, its hard-liners and its spies. Economists were pushed between two camps with opposing views, caught up in a battle of economic ideas. There were fundamental questions like: can a planned economy ever be efficient, is investment driven by profits or wages, could a social market economy offer a middle way, all seen through the eyes of seven diverse economists: an American, a Pole, a Hungarian, a German, a British, a Japanese and an Argentinian. There was argument and dissent, but it could be dangerous.

Alan Bollard is an economics professor at Victoria University of Wellington. He has a diverse background: he formerly managed APEC, the world’s largest regional trade organization,Ìý he was Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he was Secretary of the NZ Treasury. He has written an insider account of the Global Financial Crisis calledÌý°ä°ù¾±²õ¾±²õÌý(2010, AUP), a biography of economist Bill Phillips,ÌýA Few Hares to ChaseÌý(OUP, 2016),Ìýand a study of World War II economics inÌýEconomists at War: How a Handful of Economists Helped Win and Lose the World WarsÌý(2020, OUP).

The WashingtonÌýHistoryÌýSeminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is organized jointly by the AmericanÌýHistoricalÌýAssociation and the Woodrow Wilson Center'sÌýHistoryÌýand Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year.ÌýThe seminar thanks its anonymous individual donors and institutional partner (the George Washington UniversityÌýHistoryÌýDepartment) for their continued support.