In 1979, he set up a think-tank at Monash University, the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS)[1] supporting freer markets in commodities, finance and foreign exchange along with researching and advocating significant market-improving regulatory reforms.
In the spirit of Irving Fisher, it was a new way of addressing the implications of high capital mobility on monetary autonomy and inflation and economic management at the national level.
In the IMF Research Department, he played a lead role in modelling the factors and reasons why Germany, for example, needed to and eventually did float the DM currency in March 1973.
Porter's main work within the IMF and some central banks, was much inspired by Stanford's Ronald McKinnon's and Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell for theories of internal and external balance under fixed versus floating exchange rate.
Given high international capital mobility between the German Deutsche Mark (DM) and other foreign currencies, floating with consistent fiscal policies, became understood as a probable but not yet quantified key means to restore control of the money supply and resist importing inflation.
Post the consequences of early 1920s hyperinflation, Germany was not in 1970 a country to tolerate domestic or imported inflation and so had to float, Porter argued within the IMF and at conferences, against powerful official and academic opposition .
Following a challenge from a leading American monetary economist, Karl Brunner, the session featured a phone call from the Governor of the Fed to the President of the Deutsche Bundesbank on the point that Germany had to float the DM in order to retain independent control of the German base money supply , with both central bankers confirming their agreement with the Kouri-Porter paper.. And there were many countries in Germany's situation in the early 1970s - even Australia - and floating currencies followed over the next decade or so.
and related health issues, and a period at the RBA, the election of the Whitlam Labor government in Dec 1972, created a role for Porter as a founding senior economic adviser with The Priorities Review Staff (PRS) of the new Prime Minister of Australia.
There was however resulting pressure after 23 years out, for what became an excessive and inflationary pace of new expenditures to meet pent up and reformist social and political demands in the elected base.
Some reforms were frequently contested with Treasury including financial liberalisation supported by the Reserve Bank (eg floating), but which was eventually implemented by the Hawke-Keating government 1983.
His Monash days as a teaching professor were cut short with acceptance of the Irving Fisher Chair, Yale University in 1978-79 followed by a brief Visiting Professorship at "The Fed", in the International Department of the Federal Reserve System in Washington DC.
The Chairman of the new Tasman Institute and consultancy was Baillieu Myer AC, who had also been appointed by the Prime Minister to the earlier 1982 Centres of Excellence Committee of the Commonwealth Government.
The work of CoPS thus continued in the Tasman entities absent Commonwealth funding, with existing and new research staff and projects targeted on key priorities in economic reform in Australia, New Zealand and Asia in particular.