Ragnar Frisch

Born	March 3, 1895 Oslo
Died	January 31, 1973 Oslo
Residence	Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Field	Economics
Institutions	University of Oslo
Alma mater	University of Oslo
Known for	Econometrics Production theory
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize in Economics (1969)

Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (March 3, 1895 – January 31, 1973) was a Norwegian economist. Image File history File linksMetadata Ragnarfrisch. ... is the 62nd day of the year (63rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... County District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... County District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Norway. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Norway. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The University of Oslo (in Norwegian Universitetet i Oslo, in Latin Universitas Osloensis) was founded in 1811 as Universitas Regia Fredericiana (the Royal Frederick University, in Norwegian Det Kongelige Frederiks Universitet). ... The University of Oslo (in Norwegian Universitetet i Oslo, in Latin Universitas Osloensis) was founded in 1811 as Universitas Regia Fredericiana (the Royal Frederick University, in Norwegian Det Kongelige Frederiks Universitet). ... Econometrics literally means economic measurement. It is a combination of mathematical economics and statistics. ... In microeconomics, Production is simply the conversion of inputs into outputs. ... Image File history File links Nobel. ... The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel[1] (Swedish: Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), commonly called the Nobel Prize in Economics, or more acurately the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is a prize awarded each year for outstanding intellectual... is the 62nd day of the year (63rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... Alan Greenspan, former chairman, United States Federal Reserve. ...

Biography

Ragnar Frisch^[1] was born on March 3, 1895 in Oslo 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^[1], and passed his degree in 1919. In 1920 he also passed his handicraftsman tests and became a partner in his father's workshop. County District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... A goldsmith creating a new ring A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with precious metals, usually to make jewelry. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of skilled crafts practitioners, which is still popular in some countries. ... The University of Oslo (in Norwegian Universitetet i Oslo, in Latin Universitas Osloensis) was founded in 1811 as Universitas Regia Fredericiana (the Royal Frederick University, in Norwegian Det Kongelige Frederiks Universitet). ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

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, feeling that research, not jewellery, is his real calling^[2]. He published a few papers in probability theory, started teaching at the University of Oslo in 1925 and, in 1926, he gained his Ph.D with a thesis in mathematical statistics. Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mathematical statistics uses probability theory and other branches of mathematics to study statistics from a purely mathematical standpoint. ...

Also in 1926, Frisch published an article^[3] outlining his view that economics should follow the same path towards theoretical and empirical quantization that other sciences, especially physics, had followed. In 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 lead to 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. Ordinal utility theory states that while the utility of a particular good and service cannot be measured using an objective scale; a consumer is capable of ranking different alternatives available. ... Cardinal utility theory states that the utility (satisfaction) gained from a particular good or service can be measured in the same way as distance, temperature and time can. ... In microeconomics, Production is simply the conversion of inputs into outputs. ...

Frisch received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to visit the United States in 1927. There, he looked for other economists interested in the new mathematical and statistical approaches to economics, making contacts 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 cycles, popularized widely Frisch's paper which was introducing new advanced methods^[2]. The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) is a prominent philanthropic organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Irving Fisher (February 27, 1867 Saugerties, New York — April 29, 1947, New York) was an American economist, health campaigner, and eugenicist. ... Wesley Clair Mitchell (August 5, 1874 – October 29, 1948) 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 Abbott Young (1876—1929), celebrated American economist, was born into a middle_class family in Kenton, Ohio on September 19, 1876 and died aged 52 in London on March 7, 1929, his life cut short by pneumonia during an influenza epidemic. ... Henry Shultz (1776 - 13 October, 1851) was a mechanical genius and entrepreneur who appeared in the United States at Augusta, GA in 1806. ... Invest redirects here. ... Real Business Cycle Theory (or RBC Theory) is a macroeconomic school of thought that holds that the business cycle is caused by random fluctuations in productivity. ... // [edit] Introduction [edit] Definition If we were to take snapshots of an economy at different points in time, no two photos would look alike. ...

Although his fellowship was extended to travell 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 the workshop by selling family assets and to find a jeweller to manage the business for him. Then he returned to academic work, in 1928 being appointed Associate Professor in statistics and economics at the Oslo University. In 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.^[4] Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Frisch married Marie Smedal in 1920 and they had a daughter, Ragna. His granddaughter, Nadia Hasnoui (Ragna's child), became a Norwegian TV personality. After his first wife died in 1952, he remarried in 1953 with childhood friend Astrid Johannessen^[1]. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

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 econometrics 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 1993) (sometimes referred to as the Frisch-Waugh-Lovell theorem). His 1933 work on impulse-propagation business cycles was one of the principles behind modern New Classical business cycle theory. He also played a role in introducing 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. Econometrics literally means economic measurement. It is a combination of mathematical economics and statistics. ... Circulation in macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of Economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of the economy as a whole. ... In microeconomics, Production is simply the conversion of inputs into outputs. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In econometrics, the FWL theorem (Frisch-Waugh-Lovell theorem) is named after the econometricians Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, F. Waugh, and M. Lovell. ... Econometrica is a prestigious academic journal of economics, publishing articles in not only econometrics but in many areas of economics. ... In econometrics, the FWL theorem (Frisch-Waugh-Lovell theorem) is named after the econometricians Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, F. Waugh, and M. Lovell. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... New Classical Economics emerged as a school in Macroeconomics during the 1970s. ... // [edit] Introduction [edit] Definition If we were to take snapshots of an economy at different points in time, no two photos would look alike. ... The Econometric Society The Econometric Society, an International Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory in its Relation with Statistics and Mathematics was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. ... The Frisch Medal is an award in econometrics given by the Econometric Society. ...

Frisch's most important hobby was bee-keeping. In it, Frisch undertook genetic studies.

Selected publications

• Frisch, Ragnar (1926). "Kvantitativ formulering av den teoretiske økonomikks lover [Quantitative formulation of the laws of economic theory]". Statsøkonomisk Tidsskrift 40: 299-334. 
• Frisch, Ragnar (1926). "Sur un problème d'économie pure [On a problem in pure economics]". Norsk Matematisk Forenings Skrifter, Oslo 1 (16): 1-40. 
• Frisch, Ragnar (1927). "Sammenhengen mellem primærinvestering og reinvestering [The relationship between primary investment and reinvestment]". Statsøkonomisk Tidsskrift 41: 117-152. 
• Frisch, Ragnar (1929). "Correlation and scatter in statistical variables". Nordic Statistical Journal 1: 36-102. 
• Frisch, Ragnar (1929). "Statikk og dynamikk i den økonomiske teori [Statics and dynamics in economic theory]". Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift 67: 321-379. 

There is a bibliography of Frisch's wrtings 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.

Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b c} Frisch, Ragnar, "Autobiography", published in Nobel Lectures, Economics 1969-1980, Editor Assar Lindbeck, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1992
2. ^ ^{a b} Olav Bjerkholt (2000), "A turning point in the development of Norwegian economics - the establishment of the University Institute of Economics in 1932". Memorandum No 36/2000, University of Oslo
3. ^ "Quantitative formulation of the laws of economic theory" (see Selected Publications)
4. ^ See Selected Publications

See also

• Economics
• Econometrics

• List of economists
• List of think tanks
• Nobel Prize in Economics

This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Econometrics literally means economic measurement. It is a combination of mathematical economics and statistics. ... This is an alphabetical list of notable economists. ... This article is a list of think tanks by country. ... The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel[1] (Swedish: Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), commonly called the Nobel Prize in Economics, or more acurately the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is a prize awarded each year for outstanding intellectual...

External links

• Autobiography at Nobel e-Museum
• Ragnar Frisch at nobel-winners.com