Ragnar Frisch and the Postwar Norwegian Economy: A Critical Comment on Sæther and Eriksen

This article is a critical review of the picture drawn by Arild Sæther and Ib Eriksen (2014) of the economic policy and development of postwar Norway and of the influence exerted by Ragnar Frisch. Regarding the postwar economy the present article draws on a number of comprehensive studies by American and other scholars, and finds that the presentation in Sæther and Eriksen (2014) is seriously flawed. Also flawed is Sæther and Eriksen’s discussion related to Ragnar Frisch’s teaching and general influence. In the characterization of Frisch and to some extent of the Norwegian economists as a group the problem is not so much ignorance as ideological and moralistic bias, leading Sæther and Eriksen astray and relieved from the obligation of providing evidence for assertions, not least for defamatory ones.