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Photo copyright MTK
Banknote is modestly signed "Maung Kaung" -- i.e. "Younger Brother Kaung" in contrast to "U Kaung" or "Mr. Kaung"
My father was named after the famous Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung, who led the first Burmese embassy to the West.
My father was not an economist. His focus was on education, and in London where he was posted, he was more interested in mentoring the Burmese students there at the time, including economist Dr. Hla Myint, one of the pioneers of Development Economics and the late Dr. Hla Pe, Burmese linguist.
However, I think it was Bogyoke Aung San who sent my father to England to be attached to Delarue (sp?) the company that then printed Burmese banknotes.
10 kyats was quite a sum those days. Even in 1956-1959,the payment for the first article I ever wrote was K 40 and so was my monthly stipend from the University, with which I could clothe myself in Burmese handwoven longyis.
Times have changed.
To learn more about Burma's money and banking, and currency boards, watch out for Sean Turnell's upcoming book on money and banking in Burma, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press.
And here is a comment from Sean:
"Of interest to historians of economic thought is that the other signature is
that of Sir Richard Hopkins - an interlocutor of Keynes in the 1930s and then in
the British Treasury."
And here is the Wikipedia entry for Sir Richard Hopkins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hopkins_(civil_servant)
Text copyright Kyi May Kaung
