Definition
Jan Tinbergen was an important Dutch economist. He was awarded the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1969, which he shared with Ragnar Frisch for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential economists of the 20th century and one of the founding fathers of econometrics. It has been argued that the development of the first macro econometric models, the solution of the identification problem, and the understanding of dynamic models are his three most important legacies to econometrics. Tinbergen was a founding trustee of Economists for Peace and Security. In 1945, he founded the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and was the agency’s first director.
Jan Tinbergen
What is ‘Jan Tinbergen’
A Dutch economist who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1969, along with Ragnar Frisch, for his development and application of dynamic models for analyzing economic processes. Tinbergen was one of the first economists to apply math to economics.
He helped to develop the field of econometrics and developed multi-equation models of national economies that were a precursor to today’s computer-driven economic forecasts. His research focused on business cycles and economic development. He also developed the idea that governments must use multiple policy instruments if they want to impact multiple policy targets.
Explaining ‘Jan Tinbergen’
Tinbergen was born in 1903 in the Netherlands and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Leyden. He worked for the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and the League of Nations and taught development planning at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam. In addition to his economic contributions, he was known for his generosity and humanitarianism.
Further Reading
- Economic policy: principles and design – www.narcis.nl [PDF]
