Globalization think tank gets new name

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - The Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank, announced Monday it was getting a new name.

The institute will become the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics to honor the former Nixon administration commerce secretary who has been a supporter of the research organization since it began operating 25 years ago.

C. Fred Bergsten, the director of the institute, also announced that the organization had boosted its endowment to nearly $70 million, up from $18 million as a result of a fundraising drive.

"This capital campaign will help the Peterson Institute continue conducting timely, objective research and enhance its role as a leader of independent practical thought on international economic issues during this time of accelerating global change," Bergsten said.

The name change was announced during an anniversary dinner in New York City where Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were featured speakers.

The institute has often played a role in major debates over globalization including in 1993 when its reports were used by supporters in a successful battle to win passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which linked Mexico in a free trade area with the United States and Canada.

Bergsten, who headed international economic policy for the National Security Council during the Nixon administration and was an assistant treasury secretary for international affairs during the Clinton administration, founded the institute in 1981.