Jan Tinbergen (The Hague, April 12, 1903 – June 9, 1994 The Hague), Dutch economist, was awarded the first Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1969, which he shared with Ragnar Frisch for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes.

Life

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Tinbergen studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leiden under Paul Ehrenfest. In 1929 he earned his PhD with his thesis entitled "Minimumproblemen in de natuurkunde en de economie" (Minimisation problems in Physics and Economics). From 1929 till 1945 he worked, in addition to his professorship at Erasmus University Rotterdam, for the Dutch statistical office. He was also consultant to the League of Nations. From 1945 till 1955 he served as the first director of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. Jan Tinbergen was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science and of the International Academy of Science.

Work

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Tinbergen became know for his 'Tinbergen Norm', which states that if the difference between the lowest and highest income in a company exceeds a rate of 1:5, that will not help the company and may indeed be counterproductive.

Tinbergen developed the first national comprehensive macroeconomic model, which he first built for the Netherlands and later applied to the United States and the United Kingdom after World War II.

His younger brothers Nikolaas and Luuk were important ornithologists, and Nikolaas won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Tinbergen founded the Econometric Institute at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.

Tinbergen's work was later built on by Lawrence Klein, contributing to another Nobel Prize in Economics.

Literature

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• Centralization and decentralization in economic policy. - Westport, CT : Greenwood, 1981. - ISBN 0-313-23077-3
• Der Dialog Nord-Süd : Informationen zur Entwicklungspolitik. - Frankfurt/M. : Europ. Verlagsanst., 1977
• The dynamics of business cycles : a study in economic fluctuations. - Chicago, Ill. : Univ. Pr., 1974. - ISBN 0-226-80418-6
• Economic policy : principles and design. - Amsterdam : North-Holland, 1978. - ISBN 0-7204-3129-8
• Rompzy, Eric van: Jan Tinbergen. - Antwerpen : NBH, 1974

See also

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• List of economists
• List of economics consultancies and think tanks

External links

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• TINBERGEN, Jan in: Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbeweging in Nederland
• Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) Koninklijke Bibliotheek
• Jan Tinbergen
• Jan Tinbergen College (Dutch website)

1903 births | 1994 deaths | Dutch economists | Dutch Nobel Prize winners | Nobel Prize in Economics winners | Erasmus Prize winners

Jan Tinbergen | Jan Tinbergen | Jan Tinbergen | Jan Tinbergen | ヤン・ティンバーゲン | Jan Tinbergen | Jan Tinbergen | Тинберген, Ян | Jan Tinbergen