Michal Kalecki Polish Keynesian economist, macroeconomics specialist Date of Birth: 22.06.1899 Country: Poland

Biography of Michal Kalecki

Michal Kalecki was a Polish economist and Keynesian, specializing in macroeconomics. He is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding economists of the 20th century, often credited with developing ideas that brought fame to John Maynard Keynes himself. However, Kalecki published mostly in Polish and is not well-known in the English-speaking scientific community.

Early Life
Michal was born in Lodz, Poland. Little is known about his early years, largely due to the Nazi occupation during that time. In 1917, Kalecki obtained his bachelor's degree and then enrolled at the University of Warsaw, where he began studying civil engineering. He was an exceptional student, and even before completing his studies, he developed a generalization of Pascal's theorem on a hexagon inscribed in a conic section. Unfortunately, Kalecki's father lost his small textile workshop, which was his main source of income. Although his father found a position as an accountant, Michal had to leave his studies and start earning a living.

Education and Influences
From 1918 to 1921, Kalecki served in the army. After completing his military service, he enrolled at the Polytechnic of Gdansk. It was during his time in Gdansk and Warsaw that Michal was introduced to economic theory, albeit informally. He mainly studied unorthodox works, such as those by Mikhail Tugan-Baranovsky and Rosa Luxemburg. The influence of these two economists could be seen in Kalecki's later works. In 1924, Kalecki was supposed to graduate from the institute, but his father lost his job again, forcing Michal to abandon his education. He began searching for work and spent some time gathering information on loan applicants and writing economic articles for various newspapers. His experience in analyzing statistical data helped him secure a position at the Research Institute of Business Cycle and Prices (RIBCP) in 1929, after five years of searching.

Career and Contributions
In June 1930, Michal married Ada Szternfeld. In 1933, he published an essay on the theory of business cycle, summarizing many of his thoughts on various economic issues and anticipating Keynes' work, which would only be published two years later. Kalecki presented his essay to the International Econometrics Association in October and it was published in two major economic journals in 1935. Although the essay did not impress readers, Kalecki received positive feedback from some economists.

With a scholarship, Kalecki traveled to Sweden, where he met followers of Knut Wicksell working on similar theories. After familiarizing himself with Keynes' works, Michal went to England and met John Maynard Keynes himself in 1937. However, their relationship did not develop into a close friendship, and Keynes conveniently ignored the fact that Kalecki had been published before him. In 1937, Kalecki's friend Ludwig Landau was expelled from RIBCP for political reasons, and in protest, Kalecki left the institution. Luckily, if Kalecki had not left Poland before the war, his future could have been much bleaker due to his Jewish heritage.

During World War II, Kalecki worked at the Oxford Institute of Statistics, primarily writing reports on the management of the wartime economy for the British government. Unfortunately, these reports were not taken seriously by government economists. Despite the hardships of wartime, Michal managed to write several important works during this period. In 1945, he concluded that he was not valued at Oxford and decided to leave the institute. He spent some time in Paris and Montreal before the Polish government invited him to lead the Central Planning Office of the Ministry of Economics in June 1946. However, Kalecki only stayed there for a few months.

In late 1946, Michal moved to Paris, where he was offered a position in the Economic Department of the United Nations Secretariat. He worked there for eight years before leaving in 1954 due to political disagreements. In 1955, Kalecki returned to Poland and settled there for a long period of time. Despite not receiving full understanding and support from the country's leadership, Kalecki believed he could implement important reforms. Disillusioned with politics, he shifted his focus to research and teaching. He also resumed his passion for mathematics, studying number theory and probability theory, which helped him forget his political failures. Many of his economic discoveries were finally fully understood and proved to be incredibly useful for the advancement of the field. During his last visit to Cambridge for a scientific conference, Michal amazed the audience with the clarity of his ideas. His biography also impressed those around him, as few could have endured such difficult trials while maintaining a genuine passion for science and a desire to improve the world.

Michal Kalecki passed away on April 4, 1970, at the age of 70. Although the world suffered an irreplaceable loss, Kalecki's legacy lives on to this day. Increasingly, he is recognized as the true founder of Keynesianism, not only for his brilliant economic ideas but also for his incredible energy and high moral character.