Lawrence Klein

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Lawrence Robert Klein (born September 14, 1920 in Omaha , Nebraska , † October 20, 2013 in Gladwyne , Pennsylvania ) was an American economist . In 1980 he received the Nobel Prize for Economics in recognition of his research on computational econometric models and their application to the analysis of business cycles and economic policy .

Life

Lawrence Klein's childhood and adolescence were overshadowed by the Great Depression , which encouraged his later professional interests, as did his talent for mathematics, which was already evident during his school days. The outbreak of World War II coincided with Klein's transition from school to university. As a student he wondered how the political and economic developments are related. All of his later professional life revolved around this topic.

He studied economics at the University of California, Berkeley . He then moved to Paul A. Samuelson's Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where he received his doctorate in 1944 . The next stop in his academic career was the University of Chicago (1944–1947), where he developed a mathematical model of the US economy to understand the course of business cycles and to predict the impact of economic policy measures. Contrary to popular belief, this model predicted an economic upswing in the post-war period, which was to come true. He was also able to correctly predict a slight depression after the end of the Korean War .

This was followed by stays at the National Bureau of Economic Research (1948–1950) and at the University of Michigan (1949–1954). Here he refined his models and, together with Arthur Goldberger, developed the famous macroeconomic Klein Goldberger model . This used the foundations of Jan Tinbergen , the first Nobel Laureate in Economics (1969), but used a different economic theory and different statistical methods.

The anti-communist campaign of Senator McCarthy prevented Permanent Klein at the University of Michigan, because he 1944-1946 member of the American Communist Party was. He later attributed this to "youthful naivete".

He went to England for a few years at the University of Oxford (1954–1958). After the McCarthy smear campaign had subsided, he returned to the USA, to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania , where he taught and researched until his retirement .

In 1959, Klein received the John Bates Clark Medal , one of the two most prestigious awards in the field of economics. A year later he was the President of the Econometric Society , which had been a fellow since 1948 . In 1962 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1970 to the American Philosophical Society , 1973 to the National Academy of Sciences and 1991 as a corresponding member of the British Academy .

In 1976 Klein coordinated the economic policy issues of the presidential candidate Jimmy Carter . However, he declined a subsequent invitation from President Carter to join his government team.

In 1977, Klein was president-elect of the American Economic Association . More than 30 universities worldwide have awarded him an honorary doctorate .

research

In the 1960s, Klein developed a series of sophisticated econometric models that were widely used as Wharton models . He founded the consulting firm WEFA ( Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates ), now Global Insights . At the same time, a more comprehensive and detailed global econometric model was developed in the Link project together with other research groups . This model attempts to model the effects of economic developments in one country on other economies.

The reason for the award of the Nobel Prize concludes with the statement that "few, if any, economist had such a large group of scientific disciples and such a great influence as Lawrence Klein".

Selected publications

  • The Keynesian Revolution. Macmillan, London 1947, ISBN 0-333-08131-5
  • Economic Fluctuations in the United States 1921-41. 1950
  • with AS Goldberger: An Econometric Model of the United States, 1929–52. 1955
  • with MK Evans: The Wharton Econometric Forecasting Model. 1967
  • An essay on the theory of economic prediction. Markham Pub. Co., Chicago 1970, ISBN 0-8410-2005-1
  • A Textbook of Econometrics. 1973, ISBN 0-13-912832-8
  • with Gary Fromm: The Brookings Model. 1975
  • Econometric Model Performance. 1976
  • An Introduction to Econometric Forecasting and Forecasting Models. 1980, ISBN 0-669-02896-7
  • Econometric Models As Guides for Decision Making. 1982, ISBN 0-02-917430-9
  • The Economics of Supply and Demand. 1983
  • with M. Dutta: Economics, Econometrics and The LINK. 1995, ISBN 0-444-81787-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Former prof, Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein died Sunday
  2. ↑ In Memoriam: Lawrence Klein. econometricsociety.org ( Econometric Society ), November 25, 2013, accessed October 28, 2015 .
  3. ^ Member History: Lawrence R. Klein. American Philosophical Society, accessed December 13, 2018 .
  4. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 19, 2020 .
  5. ^ Past and Present Officers. aeaweb.org ( American Economic Association ), accessed October 28, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Lawrence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klein, Lawrence Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American economist
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH 20th October 2013
Place of death Gladwyne , Pennsylvania