Marcel van Meerhaeghe

Marcel Alfons Gilbert van Meerhaeghe (Wetteren, 12 April 1921 – Ghent, 22 March 2014) was a Belgian economist, professor, publicist and columnist.

Marcel van Meerhaeghe was Professor of International Economic Relations at the State University of Ghent.

In his long and distinguished career, Professor van Meerhaeghe gave important contributions to economics and also to the interpretation of economic events.

His rare ability to combine theoretical and practical analyses made particularly valuable his scientific works.

Initially Marcel van Meerhaeghe thought about a military career.

In 1939 he passed the entrance exams for the École Royale Militaire (ERM).

After the campaign of 1940 followed about seven months as a prisoner of war in a German camp (an intervention of King Leopold III resulted in the release of the ERM-students).

At Ghent University (Belgium) van Meerhaeghe obtained a master's degree in Economic Sciences in 1944 (first diet: July) and a Masters in Political Science and Sociology, also in 1944 (second diet: September).

As regards the economics studies he attended the lectures given by Professor Raoul Miry who was the counterpart of Professor Gaston Eyskens of the University of Leuven.

In 1946 he obtained his PhD: Aviation in the traffic economy : the Belgian case in particular.

In 1947 he became part-time lecturer political economy at the Koloniale Hogeschool (Antwerp) and in 1955 part-time lecturer colonial economy at the University of Ghent.

Already early in his career (in an article of 1947 ) he took a position: he opposed the numerous publications that have no relation whatsoever with reality («struggle for life») and especially deplored the mania for addressing everything with mathematics.

He was in favor of operational economics, helpful to practitioners (nützlich).

Later he elaborated his criticism in ''Economic Theory.

Before becoming Professor of economics and international economics at the University of Ghent in 1957, he worked as economic advisor in the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs, as 'faculty advisor' of the NATO Defence College in Paris (1953–54) and as an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Trade.

His interest covered all types of international academic cooperation and face-to-face interaction, which is why in September 1959 he was appointed visiting professor at the Official University of Belgian Kongo and Ruanda-Urundi in Elisabethville for the courses Histoire des doctrines sociales et économiques and Histoire des doctrines économiques.

He obtained a visiting professorship at the universities of Amsterdam in 1962 and Constantine (Algeria) in 1975, as well as becoming a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge in 1973.

Between 1962 and 1969 he was co-opted as a member of the Conseil Central de l'Économie, the umbrella institution of the Belgian federal social and economic dialogue.

Between 1961 and 1969 he was Vice-President and (since 1964) President of the Prices Commission, an advisory body to the Minister for Economic Affairs (replaced in 1969 by the Commission pour la régulation des prix : Royal Decree 3 June 1969).

Since 1971 he was also a member of the board of the Belgian-Luxemburg Exchange Control (Institut Belgo-Luxembourgeois du Change), chaired by the Governor of the Belgian National Bank, until November 2002 when this institution was dissolved (Euro).

Between 1972 and 1980 he was a member of the conseil général of the Caisse générale d'épargne et de retraite.

At its editors' request, van Meerhaeghe started a column in the Flemish business magazine Trends in 1975.

M. van Meerhaeghe was member of the academic advisory council of the Brussels think-tank Institut Européen (Institutum Europaeum : 1979–2002) and the conservative think-tank Centre for the New Europe (1993–2009).

A Critic's Companion'' (Martinus Nijhoff 1980), probably his most important work.

It caused quite a stir because of its unconventional approach.

After his Belgian retirement on 1 October 1986 van Meerhaeghe was successively visiting professor in international economics and European integration at the Centre of International Studies of the Tilburg University (1987), at the London School of Economics, London University (academic year 1987–88 – the Belgian Chair), at the university of Torino (1989–92: Professor Count di Robilant of the Faculty of Law; 1997–98: Faculty of Economics) and during the academic years 1993–95 at the university of Rome (La Sapienza).

Between 1986 and 2009 he chaired the Board of Directors of Centrale Kredietverlening (CKV), a small savings bank.

In 1987–1988 he was 'Special Adviser to the Commission of the European Communities', more particularly to Mr Willy De Clercq, former Belgian Vice Prime Minister and a member of the Commission (1985–1989: Commissioner for External Relations, responsible for international relations and foreign trade).

He also featured as a regular columnist in the newspaper The Standaard between 1988 and 1996.

Since 1988 he was a Life Member of the Mont Pèlerin Society.

At the last one he published The Information Policy of the European Commission (Vol. 4, Zellik April 1995).

M. van Meerhaeghe was one of the 165 German-speaking Professors of Economics who signed the Declaration « The Euro starts too early » (date: February 1998).

M. van Meerhaeghe is the author of 22 books (editor of 4 collective works) and about 160 articles.

Luc Versele, since 2017 chairman of the Belgian bank Crelan, was an assistant of Professor van Meerhaeghe at Ghent University.

M. van Meerhaeghe was always steadfast in taking a strictly independent line of argument.

By all means he was an individualist – one might say a 'loner' – concurring with the suggestion of A. Einstein that the ideal occupation for the theoretical scientist is that of a lighthouse keeper.

Unfortunately, sometimes he was misunderstood by persons driven by ignorance, superficiality and envy towards the well-heeled.

An example of a rule of best practice that leads to controversy when publicly stated: «A firm that puts the ethical considerations of other stakeholders such as employees first and business second could undermine the overall welfare of the firm and its shareholders/owners and even its employees» (van Meerhaeghe quoted by Professor Tom Turner and Dr. Lorraine Ryan).

A significant part of van Meerhaeghe's work belongs to what is commonly labelled as the American theory of public choice.

He advocated great concern for a sound use of government means (struggle against profligacy) and was favourable towards Taxpayers Associations (USA, Sweden, Federal Republic of Germany) that facilitate the contacts between the authorities and the public opinion.