| Birth Date: | September 19, 1930 |
| Discipline: | economics |
| Sub Discipline: | international economics |
| Main Interests: | foreign direct investment |
| Workplaces: | University of Chicago |
Robert Zelwin Aliber (born September 19, 1930) is a professor emeritus of International Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago.[1] He is best known for his contribution to the theory of foreign direct investment. He has given the concept of foreign exchange rate in foreign direct investment. Aliber argues that a multinational corporation from hard currency area can borrow at lower rates in a soft currency country than can local firms.
Aliber received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College (1952) and Bachelor of Arts (1954) and a Master of Arts (1957) from Cambridge University. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He has been a staff economist at the Commission on Money and Credit (1959–61) and at the Committee for Economic Development (1961–64). Aliber served as a senior economic advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (1964–65). He was appointed as an associate professor at the University of Chicago in 1964.[2]
He is mentioned in Michael Lewis' book Travels in the New Third World as having predicted the Icelandic financial crisis several years before it happened.