Ragnar Frisch

Ragnar Frisch
(1895 - 1973)

Pioneer Norwegian econometrician and economist who was a joint winner (with Jan Tinbergen) of the 1969 Nobel Prize for Economics.
Frisch was educated at the University of Oslo, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1926. He was appointed to a specially created professorship at Oslo in 1931, a post he held until his retirement in 1965. Frisch was a pioneer of econometrics--the application of mathematical models in association with statistical techniques to economic data--and is credited with inventing the term. He was one of the founders of the Econometric Society and, for 21 years, editor of Econometrica.

Frisch is particularly famous for the development of large-scale econometric modeling linked to economic planning and national income accounting. In this connection he was also influential in the introduction of academically trained economists into key civil service positions. Frisch was involved with a range of macroeconomic topics, including the trade cycle, production theory, consumer behaviour, and statistical theory. Many of the papers he published are regarded as classics.