Johannes de Villiers Graaff (also known as Jan de Van Graaff) is a neoclassical

Neoclassical economics

Neoclassical economics is a term variously used for approaches to economics focusing on the determination of prices, outputs, and income distributions in markets through supply and demand, often mediated through a hypothesized maximization of utility by income-constrained individuals and of profits...

 South African welfare economist and former chairman of Nedbank

Nedbank

Nedbank is one of the largest banks in South Africa; however it is one of the newest banks to be incorporated in South Africa. It is headquartered in Johannesburg...

. Graaff is noted for his work on optimal savings rates and contributions to the creation of the social welfare function

Social welfare function

In economics, a social welfare function is a real-valued function that ranks conceivable social states from lowest to highest. Inputs of the function include any variables considered to affect the economic welfare of a society...

.

Graaff graduated from the University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

 and then went on to do a PhD in economics at St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

 in 1950.

In 1951 he married Lillian Clare Thomson, daughter of Sir George Paget Thomson, and has six children with her. He is the youngest son of Sir David Graaff, 1st Baronet

Sir David Graaff, 1st Baronet

Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, 1st Baronet was a South African cold storage magnate and politician. Graaff revolutionized the cold storage industry in Africa. He founded the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company in 1899, and aggressively ran it until he left to serve in government. ...

. His eldest brother is Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet

Sir de Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet

Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet known as Div Graaf, was a South African politician who succeeded his father, Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, 1st Baronet, to his baronetcy in 1931...

.

Major works

• Fluctuations in Income Concentration, 1956, South African Journal of Economics.
• Rothbarth's `Virtual Pricing System' and the Slutsky Equation, 1947, Review of. Economic Studies
  Review of Economic Studies
  The Review of Economic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in economics. It was established in 1933 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is the eighth-ranked economics journal in overall impact according to the ranking of Kalaitzidakis et al...
  
  , 15, 91-95
• A Note on the Relative Merit of Taxes and Subsidies, 1947, South African Journal of Economics.
• Towards an Austerity Theory of Value, 1948, South African Journal of Economics.
• On Optimum Tariff Structures, 1949, Review of. Economic Studies
  Review of Economic Studies
  The Review of Economic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal in economics. It was established in 1933 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is the eighth-ranked economics journal in overall impact according to the ranking of Kalaitzidakis et al...
  
  .
• Theoretical Welfare Economics, 1957, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Equity and Efficiency as Components of the General Welfare, 1977, South African Journal of Economics.

External links

• The History of Economic Thought - Jan de Van Graaff homepage
• Theoretical Welfare Economics: A Comment, M. W. Reder, 5 MAY 2007