Read more
List of contents
Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) and the rise of economic expertise; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. Becoming an Economic Expert: 1. The construction of peace; 2. A progressive education; 3. The bourgeois socialist; 4. From Ehrenfest to the econometric society; 5. Hendrick de Man and Jan Tinbergen; 6. Macro-dynamics and the problem of unemployment; 7. The rise of the Volkspartei (People's Party) and the economics of the general interest; Part II. The Years of High Expertise: 8. From The Hague to Geneva: the world order of the League of Nations; 9. Fascism at home; 10. Tinbergen's theory of economic policymaking; 11. The expert in the model, the economist outside the model; Part III. Global Expertise: 12. Opening up Vista's: India and the world; 13. Development economics on paper; 14. Development planning on the ground: Tinbergen in Turkey; 15. Sometime the twain shall meet: the optimal order; 16. Expertise far from home; Part IV. The Limits of Expertise: 17. Measuring the unmeasurable: welfare and justice; 18. Governing the ungovernable: can we govern the planet; 19. Making peace, finding peace.
About the author
Erwin Dekker is Assistant Professor of Cultural Economics at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. He is the author of The Viennese Students of Civilization (Cambridge, 2016), which won the award for Best Book in Austrian Economics.
Summary
This is the first biographical treatment of Jan Tinbergen, the first Nobel Prize Winner in Economics. It analyzes his youthful socialist ideals and involvement in Plan-socialism and how it gave rise to his pioneering econometric models and his seminal theory of economic policy. It situates his work within the rise of modern economic expertise.
Additional text
'To anyone who thinks of Tinbergen as just an econometrician who engaged in building macro-econometric models, this book will be a revelation; it shows Tinbergen as an idealist, committed to building a better society, and not just an economic expert. I strongly recommend it.' Roger Backhouse, University of Birmingham
