Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch
Encyclopedia
Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (March 3, 1895 – January 31, 1973) was a Norwegian
economist
and the co-winner with Jan Tinbergen
of the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
in 1969. He is known for having founded the discipline of econometrics
, and in 1933 to have created the widely used term pair macroeconomics
/ microeconomics
.
as the son of gold-
and silversmith
Anton Frisch and Ragna Fredrikke b. Kittilsen. Being expected to continue his family business, Frisch became an apprentice
in the David Andersen workshop in Oslo. However, at his mother's advice, while doing his apprenticeship Frisch also started studying at the University of Oslo
. His chosen topic was economics, as it seemed to be "the shortest and easiest study" available at the university, and passed his degree in 1919. In 1920 he also passed his handicraftsman tests and became a partner in his father's workshop.
In 1921 Frisch received a fellowship from the university which enabled him to spend three years studying economics and mathematics in France
and England. After his return to Norway, in 1923, although the family's business was having difficulties, he continued his scientific activity, believing that research, not jewellery, was his real calling. He published a few papers about probability theory
, started teaching at the University of Oslo during 1925 and, in 1926, he gained his Ph. D with a thesis in mathematical statistics
.
Also in 1926, Frisch published an article outlining his view that economics should follow the same path towards theoretical and empirical quantization that other sciences, especially physics, had followed. During the same year, he published his seminal article "Sur un problème d'économie pure" starting the implementation of his own quantization programme. The article offered theoretical axiomatizations which result in a precise specification of both ordinal
and cardinal utility
, followed by an empirical estimation of the cardinal specification. Frisch also started lecturing a course on production theory, introducing a mathematization of the subject.
Frisch received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation
to visit the United States
in 1927. There, seeking other economists interested in the new mathematical and statistical approaches to economics, he associated with Irving Fisher
, Wesley Clair Mitchell
, Allyn Young and Henry Schultz
. He wrote a paper analyzing the role of investment
in explaining economic fluctuations. Wesley Mitchell, who had just written a book on business cycle
s, popularized Frisch's paper which was introducing new advanced methods.
Although his fellowship was extended to travel to Italy
and France, the next year Frisch had to return to Norway because of his father's death. He spent one year to modernize and recapitalize his family's workshop by selling family assets and to find a jeweller to manage the business for him. Then he resumed academic work, in 1928 being appointed Associate Professor of statistics and economics at the Oslo University. During 1927 and 1928 Frisch published a series of articles on the statistics of time series. In 1929 he published his first important essay on econometric methodology, "Correlation and scatter in statistical variables", followed in the same year by "Statics and dynamics in economic theory", which introduced dynamics in economic analysis.
Frisch became a full Professor at the university in 1931. He also founded at the university the Rockefeller-funded Institute of Economics in 1932 and became its Director of Research.
Frisch married Marie Smedal in 1920 and they had a daughter, Ragna. His granddaughter, Nadia Hasnaoui
(Ragna's child), became a Norwegian television performer. After his first wife died in 1952, he remarried in 1953 with childhood friend Astrid Johannessen.
Ragnar Frisch received the Antonio Feltrinelli prize from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1961 and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
in 1969 (awarded jointly with Jan Tinbergen
) for "having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Frisch was imprisoned in Bredtveit concentration camp from 17 October 1943, then in Berg concentration camp
from 22 November 1943, then in Grini concentration camp from 9 December 1943 to 8 October 1944.
and macroeconomics
. His 1926 paper on consumer theory helped set up Neo-Walrasian research. He formalized production theory (1965). In econometrics he worked on time series (1927) and linear regression analysis (1934). With Frederick Waugh, he introduced the celebrated Frisch–Waugh theorem (Econometrica
1933) (sometimes referred to as the Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem). His 1933 work on impulse-propagation business cycles became one of the principles of modern New Classical business cycle
theory. He also helped introduce econometric modeling to government economic planning and accounting. He was one of the founders of the Econometric Society
and editor of Econometrica for over twenty years. The Frisch Medal
, so named in his honor, is given every two years for the best paper published in the aforementioned Econometrica in the previous five years.
Frisch's most important hobby was bee-keeping, for which Frisch performed genetic studies.
and there is a collection of selected essays
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
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and the co-winner with Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen , was a Dutch economist. He 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...
of the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
in 1969. He is known for having founded the discipline of econometrics
Econometrics
Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
, and in 1933 to have created the widely used term pair macroeconomics
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...
/ microeconomics
Microeconomics
Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of how the individual modern household and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources. Typically, it applies to markets where goods or services are being bought and sold...
.
Biography
Ragnar Frisch was born on March 3, 1895 in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
as the son of gold-
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
and silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
Anton Frisch and Ragna Fredrikke b. Kittilsen. Being expected to continue his family business, Frisch became an apprentice
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
in the David Andersen workshop in Oslo. However, at his mother's advice, while doing his apprenticeship Frisch also started studying 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...
. His chosen topic was economics, as it seemed to be "the shortest and easiest study" available at the university, and passed his degree in 1919. In 1920 he also passed his handicraftsman tests and became a partner in his father's workshop.
In 1921 Frisch received a fellowship from the university which enabled him to spend three years studying economics and mathematics in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and England. After his return to Norway, in 1923, although the family's business was having difficulties, he continued his scientific activity, believing that research, not jewellery, was his real calling. He published a few papers about probability theory
Probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...
, started teaching at the University of Oslo during 1925 and, in 1926, he gained his Ph. D with a thesis in mathematical statistics
Mathematical statistics
Mathematical statistics is the study of statistics from a mathematical standpoint, using probability theory as well as other branches of mathematics such as linear algebra and analysis...
.
Also in 1926, Frisch published an article outlining his view that economics should follow the same path towards theoretical and empirical quantization that other sciences, especially physics, had followed. During the same year, he published his seminal article "Sur un problème d'économie pure" starting the implementation of his own quantization programme. The article offered theoretical axiomatizations which result in a precise specification of both ordinal
Ordinal utility
Ordinal utility theory states that while the utility of a particular good or service cannot be measured using a numerical scale bearing economic meaning in and of itself, pairs of alternative bundles of goods can be ordered such that one is considered by an individual to be worse than, equal to,...
and cardinal utility
Cardinal utility
In economics, cardinal utility refers to a property of mathematical indices that preserve preference orderings uniquely up to positive linear transformations...
, followed by an empirical estimation of the cardinal specification. Frisch also started lecturing a course on production theory, introducing a mathematization of the subject.
Frisch received a fellowship from the 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...
to visit the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1927. There, seeking other economists interested in the new mathematical and statistical approaches to economics, he associated with Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...
, Wesley Clair Mitchell
Wesley Clair Mitchell
Wesley Clair Mitchell was an American economist known for his empirical work on business cycles and for guiding the National Bureau of Economic Research in its first decades....
, Allyn Young and Henry Schultz
Henry Schultz
Henry Schultz was an American economist and statistician, one of the founders of econometrics.-Life:Henry Schultz was born on September 4, 1893 in a Polish family in Szarkowszczyzna, the Russian Empire...
. He wrote a paper analyzing the role of investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
in explaining economic fluctuations. Wesley Mitchell, who had just written a book on business cycle
Business cycle
The term business cycle refers to economy-wide fluctuations in production or economic activity over several months or years...
s, popularized Frisch's paper which was introducing new advanced methods.
Although his fellowship was extended to travel to 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 France, the next year Frisch had to return to Norway because of his father's death. He spent one year to modernize and recapitalize his family's workshop by selling family assets and to find a jeweller to manage the business for him. Then he resumed academic work, in 1928 being appointed Associate Professor of statistics and economics at the Oslo University. During 1927 and 1928 Frisch published a series of articles on the statistics of time series. In 1929 he published his first important essay on econometric methodology, "Correlation and scatter in statistical variables", followed in the same year by "Statics and dynamics in economic theory", which introduced dynamics in economic analysis.
Frisch became a full Professor at the university in 1931. He also founded at the university the Rockefeller-funded Institute of Economics in 1932 and became its Director of Research.
Frisch married Marie Smedal in 1920 and they had a daughter, Ragna. His granddaughter, Nadia Hasnaoui
Nadia Hasnaoui
Nadia Hasnaoui is a Norwegian television presenter.Hasnaoui was born in Morocco to a Norwegian mother and Moroccan father. When she was four years old her parents divorced and she moved to Norway with her mother. In Oslo she attended a strict Catholic French kindergarten and then later a French...
(Ragna's child), became a Norwegian television performer. After his first wife died in 1952, he remarried in 1953 with childhood friend Astrid Johannessen.
Ragnar Frisch received the Antonio Feltrinelli prize from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1961 and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
in 1969 (awarded jointly with Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen , was a Dutch economist. He 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...
) for "having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
Frisch was imprisoned in Bredtveit concentration camp from 17 October 1943, then in Berg concentration camp
Berg concentration camp
Berg was a concentration camp near Tønsberg in Norway that served as an internment and transit center for political prisoners and Jews during the Nazi occupation of Norway.-Establishment:...
from 22 November 1943, then in Grini concentration camp from 9 December 1943 to 8 October 1944.
Contributions
Frisch was one of the founders of economics as a modern science. He made a number of significant advances in the field of economics and coined a number of new words including econometricsEconometrics
Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
and macroeconomics
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...
. His 1926 paper on consumer theory helped set up Neo-Walrasian research. He formalized production theory (1965). In econometrics he worked on time series (1927) and linear regression analysis (1934). With Frederick Waugh, he introduced the celebrated Frisch–Waugh theorem (Econometrica
Econometrica
Econometrica is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics, publishing articles not only in econometrics but in many areas of economics. It is published by the Econometric Society and distributed by Wiley-Blackwell. Econometrica is one of the most highly ranked economics journals in the world...
1933) (sometimes referred to as the Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem). His 1933 work on impulse-propagation business cycles became one of the principles of modern New Classical business cycle
Business cycle
The term business cycle refers to economy-wide fluctuations in production or economic activity over several months or years...
theory. He also helped introduce econometric modeling to government economic planning and accounting. He was one of the founders of the Econometric Society
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation with statistics and mathematics. It was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
and editor of Econometrica for over twenty years. The Frisch Medal
Frisch Medal
The Frisch Medal is an award in econometrics given by the Econometric Society. It is awarded every two years for empirical or theoretical applied research published in Econometrica during the previous five years...
, so named in his honor, is given every two years for the best paper published in the aforementioned Econometrica in the previous five years.
Frisch's most important hobby was bee-keeping, for which Frisch performed genetic studies.
Selected publications
There is a bibliography of Frisch's writings up to 1960 in- Kenneth J. Arrow "The Work of Ragnar Frisch, Econometrician," Econometrica, Vol. 28, No. 2. (Apr., 1960), pp. 175–192
and there is a collection of selected essays
- Olav Bjerkholt(ed.) (1995) Foundations of Modern Econometrics: The Selected Essays of Ragnar Frisch, 2 volumes, Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar.
See also
- EconomicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
- EconometricsEconometricsEconometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
- Frisch elasticity
- List of economists
- List of think tanks