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Yan TinbergenDutch economist. Winner of the first Nobel Prize in Economics; founder and trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security project.
Date of Birth: 12.04.1903
Country:  Netherlands |
Content:
Biography of Jan Tinbergen
Jan Tinbergen was a Dutch economist and the recipient of the first Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He was also the founder and patron of the project "Economists for Peace and Security". Tinbergen received the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his "creation and application of dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes". He shared the prize with Ragnar Frisch. However, Tinbergen's accomplishments extend far beyond this recognition. He was renowned as an excellent teacher and an outstanding practitioner in the field of economics.
Early Life and Education
Jan Tinbergen was born as the eldest of five children to Dirk Cornelis Tinbergen and Jeannette van Eek. His brother Nico also received a Nobel Prize in 1973 for his physiological research, while his other brother Luuk became a well-known ornithologist. Tinbergen studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leiden from 1921 to 1925, under the guidance of Paul Ehrenfest. During this time, he actively interacted with prominent scientists such as Ehrenfest, Kamerlingh Onnes, Hendrik Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman, and Albert Einstein.
Career
After completing his studies, Tinbergen served in the management of a Rotterdam prison for a period of time. He later obtained a position at the Central Bureau of Statistics in The Hague. Tinbergen returned to the University of Leiden, where he defended his dissertation in 1929. His chosen topic, with the assistance of Ehrenfest, combined elements of mathematics, physics, economics, and politics. When the Central Bureau of Statistics established a new department specializing in economic activity reviews and mathematical statistics, Tinbergen was offered the position of chairman. He worked at the Bureau until 1945, utilizing the extensive statistical data available to test various theoretical assumptions and concepts.
Parallel to his work at the Bureau, Jan Tinbergen also engaged in scientific and academic activities. He became a professor of statistics at the University of Amsterdam in 1931 and an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam in 1933. From 1936 to 1938, Tinbergen served as a consultant to the League of Nations. In 1945, he became the first director of the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. He left this position in 1955 to focus entirely on his educational activities.
International Influence
Tinbergen spent a year as a visiting professor at Harvard University. He later returned to the Dutch School of Economics, which had by then transformed into the Dutch Economic Institute. Alongside his academic work, Tinbergen provided consulting services to international organizations and even governments of developing countries. He advised representatives from the governments of the United Arab Republic, Turkey, Venezuela, Suriname, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
Jan Tinbergen was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Science. In 1956, he co-founded the econometric institute at Erasmus University Rotterdam with Henri Theil.
In conclusion, Jan Tinbergen was a highly accomplished economist, educator, and consultant. His contributions to the field of economics, as well as his dedication to promoting peace and security, have left a lasting impact on the world.
