Petter Jakob Bjerve
Encyclopedia
Petter Jakob Bjerve was a Norwegian
economist, statistician and politician for the Labour Party
. Prominent positions include director of Statistics Norway
from 1949 to 1980, Norwegian Minister of Finance
from 1960 to 1963, and president of the International Statistical Institute
from 1971 to 1975.
as a son of farmers Petter Jakob Bjerve, Sr. (1869–1928) and Kristine Arnstad (1870–1961). He married Rannveig Bremer, a daughter of Anders H. Bremer.
Bjerve attended secondary school in Orkdal
, and was active in Clarté
before joining the Labour Party
. He studied under Ragnar Frisch at the University of Oslo
, and graduated with the cand.oecon.
degree in 1941. He studied at The American University, Washington DC from 1938 to 1939 and again in the US with a Rockefeller Foundation
grant from 1947 to 1949. At the University of Oslo he worked as a research assistant
from 1939 to 1940, teacher from 1941 to 1943 and research fellow
from 1945 to 1949. He also held sporadic lectures between 1945 and 1960. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University
from 1954 to 1955. He was also a secretary in Statistics Norway
from 1944 to 1945 and assistant secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance
. In 1949 he was hired as a director in Statistics Norway. He remained here until 1980. The exception was his period as Minister of Finance
in Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet, from 23 April 1960 until his resignation on 4 February 1963. His doctorate thesis Planning in Norway 1947–1953 was finished in 1959, and he defended his thesis for the dr.philos. degree in 1962 while serving as Minister of Finance.
He was a prolific writer throughout his career. He was president of the International Statistical Institute
from 1971 to 1975, and honorary member from 1986. He was an honorary member of Statistiska Föreningen in Stockholm
from 1951, the Finnish Statistical Society from 1960, the American Statistical Association
from 1964 and the Royal Statistical Society
from 1967.
He was a board member of Norsk Regnesentral from 1958 to 1960, of Institutt for anvendt sosialvitenskapelig forskning
from 1966 to 1981, of Statsøkonomisk Forening from 1950 to 1953, 1963 to 1967 and 1971 to 1974. He chaired Sosialistiske økonomers forening from 1965 to 1967 and the Chr. Michelsen Institute
department of social sciences from 1982 to 1984.
Bjerve was also an adviser for governments and banks of Zambia
, Pakistan
, Sri Lanka
, Bangladesh
, Portugal
, Italy
and Zimbabwe
, partly with a United Nations
and International Labour Organization
connection. He also held other positions within the United Nations and OECD systems.
He was also a board member of Riksskattestyret from 1959 to 1963, Dag og Tid
from 1965 to 1967 and Ja til EF 1972, and chairman of Livstrygdelaget Andvake from 1979 to 1985.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
economist, statistician and politician for the Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
. Prominent positions include director of Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...
from 1949 to 1980, Norwegian Minister of Finance
Minister of Finance (Norway)
- 1st Ministry :- 5th Ministry :- Ministry of Finance, Trade and Customs :- Ministry of Finance and Customs :- Ministry of Finance :...
from 1960 to 1963, and president of the International Statistical Institute
International Statistical Institute
The International Statistical Institute is a professional association of statisticians. The Institut International de Statistique or International Statistical Institute was founded in 1885 although there had been international congresses from 1853.. The Institute publishes a variety of books and...
from 1971 to 1975.
Career
He was born in StjørdalStjørdal
is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen...
as a son of farmers Petter Jakob Bjerve, Sr. (1869–1928) and Kristine Arnstad (1870–1961). He married Rannveig Bremer, a daughter of Anders H. Bremer.
Bjerve attended secondary school in Orkdal
Orkdal
Orkdal is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Orkanger. Other villages in the municipality include Kjøra, Geitastrand, Gjølme, Thamshavn, Fannrem, Vormstad, Svorkmo, and...
, and was active in Clarté
Clarté (Norway)
Clarté was a socialist and pacifist organisation in Norway.It was founded in 1925, and had its roots in a French-based international organization of the same name...
before joining the Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
. He studied under Ragnar Frisch at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
, and graduated with the cand.oecon.
Cand.oecon.
Candidatus oeconomices or Candidata oeconomices , often abbreviated cand.oecon. is an academic degree in economics at Danish and Norwegian universities. It is roughly equivalent to a Master of Economics, but it consists of 4+2 years, and was based on a four year cand.mag.. The degree was replaced...
degree in 1941. He studied at The American University, Washington DC from 1938 to 1939 and again in the US with a Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
grant from 1947 to 1949. At the University of Oslo he worked as a research assistant
Research assistant
A research assistant is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university or a research institute, for the purpose of assisting in academic research...
from 1939 to 1940, teacher from 1941 to 1943 and research fellow
Research fellow
The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...
from 1945 to 1949. He also held sporadic lectures between 1945 and 1960. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
from 1954 to 1955. He was also a secretary in Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...
from 1944 to 1945 and assistant secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance
Norwegian Ministry of Finance
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Finance is a Norwegian ministry established in 1814. The ministry is responsible for state finance, including the state budget, taxation and economic policy in Norway. It is led by Sigbjørn Johnsen...
. In 1949 he was hired as a director in Statistics Norway. He remained here until 1980. The exception was his period as Minister of Finance
Minister of Finance (Norway)
- 1st Ministry :- 5th Ministry :- Ministry of Finance, Trade and Customs :- Ministry of Finance and Customs :- Ministry of Finance :...
in Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet, from 23 April 1960 until his resignation on 4 February 1963. His doctorate thesis Planning in Norway 1947–1953 was finished in 1959, and he defended his thesis for the dr.philos. degree in 1962 while serving as Minister of Finance.
He was a prolific writer throughout his career. He was president of the International Statistical Institute
International Statistical Institute
The International Statistical Institute is a professional association of statisticians. The Institut International de Statistique or International Statistical Institute was founded in 1885 although there had been international congresses from 1853.. The Institute publishes a variety of books and...
from 1971 to 1975, and honorary member from 1986. He was an honorary member of Statistiska Föreningen in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
from 1951, the Finnish Statistical Society from 1960, the American Statistical Association
American Statistical Association
The American Statistical Association , is the main professional US organization for statisticians and related professions. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest, continuously operating professional society in the United States...
from 1964 and the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
from 1967.
He was a board member of Norsk Regnesentral from 1958 to 1960, of Institutt for anvendt sosialvitenskapelig forskning
Norwegian Social Research
Norwegian Social Research is a social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway.It was established on 1 July 1996, as a merger between four institutes. It is subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research...
from 1966 to 1981, of Statsøkonomisk Forening from 1950 to 1953, 1963 to 1967 and 1971 to 1974. He chaired Sosialistiske økonomers forening from 1965 to 1967 and the Chr. Michelsen Institute
Chr. Michelsen Institute
The Chr. Michelsen Institute was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. CMI is an independent, non-profit research foundation for policy-oriented and applied development research. Headed by the director Ottar Mæstad, it employs 40 social...
department of social sciences from 1982 to 1984.
Bjerve was also an adviser for governments and banks of Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, partly with a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
connection. He also held other positions within the United Nations and OECD systems.
He was also a board member of Riksskattestyret from 1959 to 1963, Dag og Tid
Dag og Tid
Dag og Tid is a national weekly newspaper in Norway that uses the Nynorsk standard of the Norwegian language. The newspaper was founded in 1962, is politically independent but editorially radical and focuses on culture and politics. The current editor is Svein Gjerdåker. Its circulation is...
from 1965 to 1967 and Ja til EF 1972, and chairman of Livstrygdelaget Andvake from 1979 to 1985.