KINDLEBERGER, Charles P(oor) II 1910-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 12, 1910, in New York, NY; died July 7, 2003, in Cambridge, MA. Economist, educator, and author. Kindleberger was a prominent economist who was renowned for his theories that government intervention is necessary to prevent economic crises, as well as for his key role in developing the Marshall Plan following World War II. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1932, and Columbia University, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1937, Kindleberger went on to gain practical experience in his field by working for the government. At the time, the Great Depression was still in progress, and his focus was on international trade and finance for the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, and then for the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland. From 1940 to 1942 he was in Washington, D.C., working as a research economist for the Federal Reserve, and for a year he was American secretary for the Joint Economic Committee of the United States and Canada. With the onset of World War II, Kindleberger joined the Office of Strategic Services—the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency—and received a Bronze Star for helping select targets for bombings in Europe. With the war over, he returned to Washington, D.C., this time as chief of German and Austrian Economic Affairs and adviser on European economic recovery. As such, he was instrumental in helping to devise the economic recovery of Europe, which became known as the Marshall Plan after then secretary of state George C. Marshall. In 1948, Kindleberger left government work behind for academia. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an associate professor, becoming a full professor of economics in 1951 and Ford International Professor of Economics emeritus in 1976. During his career, he wrote or edited forty books, including several influential textbooks and 1991's The Life of an Economist: An Autobiography. Other books by Kindleberger include Foreign Trade and the National Economy (1962), The World in Depression, 1929-1939 (1973; revised edition, 1986), Manias, Panics, and Crises (1978), A Financial History of Western Europe (1984; revised edition, 1993), Marshall Plan Days (1987), Historical Economics: Art or Science? (1990), and Comparative Political Economy: A Retrospective (2000).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2003, p. B12.

New York Times, July 9, 2003, p. C13.

Times (London, England), July 17, 2003.

Washington Post, July 10, 2003, p. B6.