Palyi (1892-1970) obtained a doctorate in economics at the University of Munich. Between 1915 and 1918 he worked at the Austro-Hungarian National Bank and the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, then taught at the Handelshochschule in Munich (1918-21). In 1921-22 he was Privatdozent at the Universities of Göttingen and Kiel, and the following year at the Handelshochschule in Berlin, where he met Harrod who was getting acquainted with economics with a view to tutoring at Christ Church. During 1926-28 Palyi was visiting professor at various universities, including Oxford, the University of California at Los Angeles and Chicago. He was adviser to the Deutsche Bank (1928-33), then emigrated to the UK to be guest economist at Midland Bank and lecturer at University College, Oxford. He finally emigrated to the United States: he was guest lecturer at Chicago University (1933-37) and from 1940 he taught at the Northwestern University in Chicago. He was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune (1961-68) and the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, New York (1968-70).
See list of letters .
Source: Deutsche Biographische Enkyklopädie; International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-45, vol. II, pt 2 (Munich: Saur, 1983); W. J. Samuels, "F. Taylor Ostrander's Notes from Courses Given by Melchior Paly, University of Chicago, 1933-34", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, vol. 22B, 2004. There are no documents at University College concerning Palyi's sojourns in Oxford.