Robert A. Mundell received his Ph.D. from MIT in Industrial Economics in 1956 and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Political Economy at the University of Chicago in 1956-7. He taught at U.B.C., Stanford University and the Johns Hopkins Bologna Center before joining the staff of the International Monetary Fund in 1961. He was Professor of Economics and Editor of the Journal of Political Economy at the University of Chicago in the 1960s and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Waterloo before coming to Columbia University in 1974.

Professor Mundell has been an adviser to a number of international agencies and organizations including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, the US Treasury and numerous governments, institutions and companies around the world.

Professor Mundell prepared the first plan for a common currency in Europe and is known as the father of the theory of optimum currency areas. He developed the international macroeconomic model (the Mundell-Fleming model), the theory of growth and inflation (the Mundell-Tobin effect relating monetary expansion, the real rate of interest and economic growth), was co-creator (with Arthur Laffer) of supply-side economics and played an early role in the founding of the Euro. Six volumes of his Collected Works were published in Chinese in 2004.

Professor Mundell is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association and past presidents of both the North American Economic and Financial Association and the International Atlantic Association. He is the Honorary President of the Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship in Beijing, China, and is the recipient of more than fifty honorary degrees and professorships. He is the Chairman of the Santa Colomba Group on Reform on the International Monetary System in Siena, Italy.

In 1999 he received the Nobel Prize in Economics for “his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas”. He has established the foundation for the theory which dominates practical policy considerations of monetary and fiscal policy in open economies. His work on monetary dynamics and optimum currency areas has inspired generations of researchers, and his contributions remain outstanding and constitute the core of teaching in international macroeconomics.

Professor Mundell's research has had such a far-reaching and lasting impact because it combines formal - but still accessible - analysis, intuitive interpretation and results with immediate policy applications. Above all, Professor Mundell chose his problems with uncommon - almost prophetic - accuracy in terms of predicting the future development of international monetary arrangements and capital markets. His contributions serve as a superb reminder of the significance of basic research.

In 2001 Professor Mundell was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada, and in 2005 he received the Global Economics Award of the Kiel Institute, Germany, and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Merit. He lives in New York and Italy.

Monday, November 12, 2007:
14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at Siam University in Bangkok
(Information and free tickets: phone (02) 457-0068 ext. 5317, 5318, fax (02) 868-6885, email siam@siam.edu, jamesd9@gmail.com)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007:
9:00 Keynote speech on "Remaking the international exchange rate system: The optimum currency area approach to a global currency" and dialogue at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok
(Information and free tickets: phone (02) 697-6861-2, fax (02) 277-1803,
email amata_kan@utcc.ac.th, ascenter@utcc.ac.th)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007:
12:00 Philippine Launch of "Bridges - Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace" hosted by Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines, at Malacanang Palace (by invitation only)

Thursday, November 15, 2007:
14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at De La Salle University in cooperation with Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila
(Information and free tickets: phone (02) 525-6950, fax (02) 526-1403, email eclee@dlsu.edu.ph, yuhicoa@dlsu.edu.ph)

Friday, November 16, 2007:
14:30 Keynote speech and dialogue at Ateneo de Davao University in Davao
(Information and free tickets: phone (082) 227-8771, fax (082) 226-4116, email jse@addu.edu.ph,
asamsonsj@gmail.com)