Ragnar Frisch was a Norwegian economist and statistician. He is well known for his effort in founding in 1930 the Econometric Society, the first international association in economics. In Europe it was followed by the European Economic Association in the mid-1980s. Ragnar Frisch was awarded the...

The journal of the Econometric Society, Econometrica, was established in 1933 and edited by Ragnar Frisch for the first 22 years. As a new journal Econometrica had three key characteristics. First, it was devoted to a research program stated in few but significant words in the constitution of...

Ragnar Frisch's concept of econometrics was broader in scope than the more restricted connotation it has today as a sub-discipline of economics, it may be more properly rendered as a reconstruction of economics along principles inspired and drawn from natural sciences. In this reconstruction an...

Artikkelen redegjør innledningsvis for opprettelsen av statsøkonomisk eksamen i 1905 - den viktigste begivenhet i økonomifagets utvikling ved universitetet i de første 100 år av dets historie - og behandler deretter begivenheter som utspilte seg i 1910-20. I 1910 ble det for annen gang i...

Artikkelen behandler begivenheter som utspilte seg i 1876-77. I Stortinget ble det fremmet forslag om opprettelse av et professorat i statsøkonomi og statistikk. Forslaget fikk tilslutning av et stort flertall og etter Kongens godkjenning ble det umiddelbart satt ut i livet. Dette var det...

The article reviews the early history of the Cowles Commission, its close and intertwined relations with the Econometric Society (ES), and the influence and guidance of Ragnar Frisch. It provides much detail on the three rounds of choosing a research director, in 1937-38, in 1939 and at the end...

The paper is about Wassily Leontief's path towards the discovery of input-output economics, published in the Review of Economic Statistics in 1936 and 1937 and in the 1941 monograph The Structure of American Economy, 1919-1929. The aim has more specifically been to look more closely into how...

Business cycle analysis, i.e. investigations into the more or less regular fluctuations in economic activity, emerged around the mid-nineteenth century. During Ragnar Frisch’s formative years as a young economist the field came to the centre of attention. Frisch was highly concerned about the...

This article narrates Trygve Haavelmo’s experiences from the time he was hired as an assistant at Ragnar Frisch’s Institute of Economics in 1933 until the publication of The Probability Approach in Economics in 1944. The title should be taken literally, it is Haavelmo’s physical steps...

A confluence of circumstances led to the foundation of the University Institute of Economics in Oslo in 1932. Ragnar Frisch was the kingpin in this development. After having been appointed professor of economics and statistics by an unusual decision by the Storting in 1932 he decided to decline...