Thorkil Kristensen was a Danish politician, finance minister, professor in national economy and futurist.

He was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle

Vejle

Vejle is a town in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle and Grejs Rivers and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality and the Region of Southern Denmark...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

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Between 1938–1945 he was professor at the University of Aarhus and between 1947–1960 at the Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School, also known as CBS, is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. With more than 17,000 students and 1,300 staff members, CBS is also one of the largest business schools in Europe. CBS offers a wide range of business-oriented university programmes and a research environment...

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Thorkil Kristensen was elected to the Danish Parliament 1945 and became finance minister under Knud Kristiansen (1945–1947) and Erik Eriksen (1950–1953). Throughout his life he worked with difficult economic problems. Among people of his own party and opposing parties, he enjoyed great respect because of his broad knowledge of economics.

He came to disagree on economic policy with his party, Venstre, and left the party in 1960.

After his exit from politics, he was secretary general of the OECD from 1960-1969. He was the founder of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies is Denmark's and one of Scandinavia's largest Futures Studies think tank. It was founded in 1970 by Professor Thorkil Kristensen, former OECD Secretary-General, Danish Minister of Finance and member of the Club of Rome...

 (CIFS), making it one of the first futures research institutes on the European continent. He was managing director at CIFS from 1970–1988.

He participated in the Club of Rome

Club of Rome

The Club of Rome is a global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues. Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the CoR describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." It consists of current and...

 which attracted considerable public attention with its report, Limits to Growth

Limits to Growth

The Limits to Growth is a 1972 book modeling the consequences of a rapidly growing world population and finite resource supplies, commissioned by the Club of Rome. Its authors were Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The book used the World3 model to...

, which has sold 30 million copies in more than 30 translations, making it the best selling environmental book in world history.