William J. Baumol

William Jack Baumol (born February 26, 1922 in New York City , New York ; † May 4, 2017 ) was an American economist , professor at New York University and professor emeritus at Princeton University . Baumol is the developer of the contestable markets concept .

Life

Baumol received a Bachelor of Social Science from the College of the City of New York in 1942 and a Ph.D. in 1949 from the London School of Economics. PhD . From 1942 to 1943 and 1946 he worked at the United States Department of Agriculture , from 1947 to 1949 he was an assistant lecturer at the London School of Economics . From 1949 to 1992 he was Professor of Economics at Princeton University . Since his retirement he has been a Senior Research Economist at Princeton . At the same time, he was professor at New York University from 1971 and there director of the CV Starr Center for Applied Economics .

In 1981, Baumol served as president-elect of the American Economic Association .

Baumol was married and the father of two children.

research

Precursors in mathematical economics , 1968

Baumol is mainly through his concept of contestable markets (Engl. Contestable markets ) is known, which he described in the book in 1982 Conte Table Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure with John C. Panzar and Robert D. Willig presented. In a contestable market there are neither market entry nor market exit costs, i.e. no market barriers . This means that competition is possible at any time. In this case, a monopoly, who as such brings in high profits, will act as if he were exposed to market competition. For example, he will reinvest profits in research and development or new products, which he would not be prepared to do in a non-contestable, i.e. protected, monopoly.

His work on Baumol's cost disease , named after him , which he first described in 1966 together with William G. Bowen , is also considered significant . Baumol and Bowen differentiated economic areas in which human labor is nothing more than a simple factor of production, from those in which human labor itself is essential for production or service. In the latter, only comparatively small increases in productivity are possible - a Beethoven string quartet cannot be played in an ever shorter time - which means that costs in these areas rise relatively sharply. He thus provided a possible explanation for rising state quotas and, with his work, is also considered the founder of cultural economics .

In 1971 in environmental economics , together with Wallace E. Oates, in a much-cited essay, he proposed the price-standard approach for minimum-cost compliance with environmental targets. His textbook The Theory of Environmental Policy on environmental economics, first published in 1975 and also co-authored with Wallace E. Oates, became a standard work.

Honors

1953 Fellow of the Econometric Society
1957–1958 Guggenheim Fellow
1975 John R. Commons Award (Omicron Delta Epsilon)
1975 Townsend Harris Medal (Alumni Association of the City College of New York)
1982 Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association
1984 Distinguished Member, Economic Association of Puerto Rico
1986 Assoc. of American Publishers Award for Best Book in Business, Management and Economics, Superfairness: Applications and Theory
1987 Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy
1989 Assoc. of Am. Publishers Annual Awards for Excellence in Publishing, Honorable Mention in Social Sciences, Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View
1992 First Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences Award, New York University
2005 Antonio Feltrinelli Prize
2005 Corresponding member of the British Academy
Honorary doctorates : 1965 Rider College, 1971 Stockholm University of Applied Sciences , 1973 Knox College, 1973 University of Basel , 1996 University of Limburg, Maastricht

Memberships

Publications

Baumol published more than 400 articles in scientific journals and numerous books:

with R. Turvey: Economic Dynamics. 1951, 1959, 1970
Welfare Economics and the Theory of the State. 1952, 1965.
with LV Chandler: Economic Processes and Policies. 1954
Business Behavior, Value and Growth. 1959, 1966
with Klaus Knorr: What Price Economic Growth? 1961
Economic Theory and Operations Analysis. 1961, 1965, 1972, 1976
The Stock Market and Economic Efficiency. 1965
with WG Bowen: Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma. 1966
with SM Goldfeld: Precursors in Mathematical Economics: An Anthology. 1968
Portfolio Theory: The Selection of Asset Combinations. 1970
with M. Marcus: Economics of Academic Libraries. 1973
with WE Oates: The Theory of Environmental Policy. 1975, 1988
EE Bailey (Ed.): Selected Economic Writings of William J. Baumol. 1976
with WE Oates and SA Batey Blackman: Economics, Environmental Policy, and the Quality of Life. 1979
with AS Blinder: Economics: Principles and Policy. 1979, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1991 and 1994
Publisher: Public and Private Enterprise in a Mixed Economy. 1980.
with John C. Panzar and Robert D. Willig: Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure . San Diego 1982, 1987, ISBN 015513910X .
Editor with H. Baumol: Inflation and the Performing Arts. 1984
Editor with K. McLennan: Productivity Growth and US Competitiveness. 1985
Superfairness: Applications and Theory. 1986
Microtheory: Applications and Origins. 1986
with L. Osberg and EN Wolff: The Information Economy and the Implications of Unbalanced Growth. 1989
with SA Batey Blackman and EN Wolff: Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View. 1989
with Stephen M. Goldfeld, Lilli A. Gordon and Frank-Michael Köhn: The Economics of Mutual Fund Markets: Competition Versus Regulation . Kluwer, Boston 1990, ISBN 0-7923-9043-1 .
with SA Batey Blackman: Perfect Markets and Easy Virtue: Business Ethics and the Invisible Hand. 1991
Entrepreneurship, Management and the Structure of Payoffs. 1993
with Gregory Sidak: Toward Competition in Local Telephony. 1994
Editor with RR Nelson and EN Wolff: Convergence of Productivity: Cross-National Studies and Historical Evidence. 1994
with Gregory Sidak: Transmission Pricing and Stranded Costs in the Electric Power Industry. 1995
Editor with WE Becker: Assessing Educational Practices: The Contribution of Economics. 1995
Editor with AS Blinder: Microeconomics: Principles and Policy. 1996
The free-market innovation machine. Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2002, ISBN 0691096155 .
Regulation Misled by Misread Theory: Perfect Competition and Competition-Imposed Price Discrimination . American Enterprise Institute Press, Washington (DC) 2006, ISBN 0844713902 .
with Robert E. Litan and Carl J. Schramm: Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity . Yale University Press, New Haven 2007, ISBN 0300109415 .

Web links

Literature by and about William J. Baumol in the catalog of the German National Library
William J. Baumol in the catalog of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics (ZBW)
CV on econ.nyu.edu (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Timothy B. Lee: William Baumol, whose famous economic theory explains the modern world, has died . Vox.com, May 4, 2017, accessed May 13, 2017.
^ Past Presidents. American Economic Association website , accessed May 13, 2017 .
^ William J. Baumol, John C. Panzar and Robert D. Willig : Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure . Saunders College Publishing / Harcourt Brace, 1982, ISBN 0-15-513910-X .
^ William J. Baumol and William G. Bowen: Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma . Ed .: The Twentieth Century Fund. New York 1966.
↑ Patricia Cohen: William J. Baumol, 95, 'One of the Great Economists of His Generation,' Dies. In: nytimes.com. May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017 .
^ Victor Ginsburgh: How William Baumol created cultural economics. In: voxeu.org. August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017 .
^ William J. Baumol and Wallace E. Oates: The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment . In: The Swedish Journal of Economics . tape 73 , no. 1 , March 1971, p. 42-54 , doi : 10.2307 / 3439132 ( online [PDF]).
^ Ian Sheldon: William J. Baumol . In: Timothy C. Haab and John C. Whitehead (Eds.): Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: An Encyclopedia . March 28, 2014.
^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 2, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Baumol, William J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Baumol, William Jack (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American economist
DATE OF BIRTH	February 26, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH	New York City
DATE OF DEATH	4th May 2017
Place of death	New York City , New York

[1] Timothy B. Lee: William Baumol, whose famous economic theory explains the modern world, has died . Vox.com, May 4, 2017, accessed May 13, 2017.

[AEA-2] Past Presidents. American Economic Association website , accessed May 13, 2017 .

[3] William J. Baumol, John C. Panzar and Robert D. Willig : Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure . Saunders College Publishing / Harcourt Brace, 1982, ISBN 0-15-513910-X .

[4] William J. Baumol and William G. Bowen: Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma . Ed .: The Twentieth Century Fund. New York 1966.

[5] Patricia Cohen: William J. Baumol, 95, 'One of the Great Economists of His Generation,' Dies. In: nytimes.com. May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017 .

[6] Victor Ginsburgh: How William Baumol created cultural economics. In: voxeu.org. August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017 .

[7] William J. Baumol and Wallace E. Oates: The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment . In: The Swedish Journal of Economics . tape 73 , no. 1 , March 1971, p. 42-54 , doi : 10.2307 / 3439132 ( online [PDF]).

[8] Ian Sheldon: William J. Baumol . In: Timothy C. Haab and John C. Whitehead (Eds.): Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: An Encyclopedia . March 28, 2014.

[9] Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 2, 2020 .