Jan Tinbergen

About Jan Tinbergen

Who is it?: Nobel Prize Winner in Economics
Birth Day: April 12, 1903
Birth Place: The Hague, Netherlands, Dutch
Died On: June 9, 1994(1994-06-09) (aged 91)\nThe Hague, Netherlands
Birth Sign: Taurus
Alma mater: Leiden University
Known for: First national macroeconomic model
Awards: Erasmus Prize (1967) Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1969)
Fields: Economics, Econometrics
Institutions: Erasmus University
Doctoral advisor: Paul Ehrenfest
Doctoral students: Tjalling Koopmans Hans van den Doel Supachai Panitchpakdi
Influences: Oskar R. Lange

Jan Tinbergen Net Worth

Jan Tinbergen was born on April 12, 1903 in The Hague, Netherlands, Dutch, is Nobel Prize Winner in Economics. Jan Tinbergen was a noted 20th century Dutch economist, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1969. He broke new grounds in the development of econometrics, which connected mathematics and statistics to economic theory. Although he entered the University of Leiden with physics and mathematics, he soon realized that if he wanted to make some meaningful contribution to the society, he needed to study economics. Studying the subject in private, he earned his PhD in physics and thereafter joined Bureau of Statistics, where he worked for almost sixteen years before moving to Central Planning Bureau of Netherlands. Concurrently, he also taught at The Netherlands School of Economics, initially as an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics. Later, on retiring from Central Planning Bureau, he devoted himself fulltime to teaching, having number of doctoral students, who later became eminent economists. Today, he is known as one of the founding fathers of econometrics. Understanding of dynamic models, developing the first macro econometric models as well as the solution of the identification problem are few of his major achievements. Known for his gentleness and modesty, he never criticized his colleagues. He could have used his talents to gather wealth, but he chose to devote his knowledge in the service of mankind.
Jan Tinbergen is a member of Intellectuals & Academics

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1929

From 1929 to 1945 he worked for the Dutch statistical office and briefly served as consultant to the League of Nations (1936–1938). In 1945 he became the first Director of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and left this position in 1955 to focus on education. He spent one year as a visiting professor at the Harvard University and then returned to the Dutch Economic Institute (the successor of the Netherlands School of Economics). In parallel, he provided consulting services to international organizations and governments of various developing countries, such as United Arab Republic, Turkey, Venezuela, Surinam, Indonesia and Pakistan.

1936

Tinbergen developed the first national comprehensive macroeconomic model, which he first developed in 1936 for the Netherlands, and later applied to the United States and the United Kingdom.

1956

Tinbergen was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science and of the International Academy of Science. In 1956 he founded the Econometric Institute at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam together with Henri Theil, who also was his successor in Rotterdam. In 1960 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. The Tinbergen Institute was named in his honour. The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) awarded its Honorary Fellowship to Jan Tinbergen in 1962. In 1968, he received an honorary doctorate from Sir George Williams University, which later became Concordia University.

1973

Jan Tinbergen was the eldest of five children of Dirk Cornelis Tinbergen and Jeannette van Eek. His brother Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen would also win a Nobel Prize (for physiology, during 1973) for his work in ethology, while his youngest brother Luuk would become a famous ornithologist. Jan and Nikolaas Tinbergen are the only siblings to have both won Nobel Prizes. Between 1921 and 1925, Tinbergen studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leiden under Paul Ehrenfest. During those years at Leiden he had numerous discussions with Ehrenfest, Kamerlingh Onnes, Hendrik Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman, and Albert Einstein.

1981

For many, Jan Tinbergen became known for the so-called 'Tinbergen Norm' often discussed long after his death. There is no written work of Tinbergen in which he himself states it formally. It is generally believed to be the principle that, if the ratio between the greatest and least income exceeds 5, it becomes disadvantageous for the societal unit involved. Tinbergen himself discussed some technicalities of a five-to-one income distribution ratio in an article published in 1981. Apart from specifics about a five-to-one ratio, it is true in general that Tinbergen's grand theme was income distribution and the search for an optimal social order.

1985

Tinbergen's work on macroeconomic Models was later continued by Lawrence Klein, contributing to another Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. For his cultural contributions, he was given the Gouden Ganzenveer in 1985.

2019

Tinbergen’s econometric modelling lead to a lively debate with several known participants including J.M. Keynes, Ragnar Frisch and Milton Friedman. The debate is sometime referred to as the Tinbergen debate.