Ragnar Frisch

Lore & Background

Ragnar Frisch was born in Christiania to a family of gold- and silversmiths who had worked with precious metals for at least 300 years. Expected to continue the family business, he became an apprentice at the David Andersen workshop, but at his mother's advice also studied economics at the Royal Frederick University, passing his degree in 1919. After his father's death, he modernized the family workshop and resumed academic work, becoming a full professor at the University of Oslo in 1931 and founding the Institute of Economics there in 1932.

Frisch received a Rockefeller fellowship to visit the United States in 1927, where he associated with economists Irving Fisher, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Allyn Young, and Henry Schultz. During the Nazi occupation of Norway, he was arrested in October 1943 and imprisoned in Bredtveit, Berg, and Grini concentration camps until October 1944. He married Marie Smedal in 1920, and after her death in 1952, remarried childhood friend Astrid Johannessen in 1953.

Reader's Guide

Ragnar Frisch's significance lies in his foundational role in transforming economics into a quantitative science. He coined the term econometrics in 1926 for using statistical methods to describe economic systems, and in 1933 introduced the terms microeconomics and macroeconomics to distinguish individual and aggregate economic analysis. His 1933 statistically informed model of business cycles, later developed with Jan Tinbergen, earned them the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1969. Frisch was a founder of the Econometric Society in 1930 and edited its journal Econometrica for 21 years. His work on time series, linear regression (including the Frisch–Waugh theorem), and production theory advanced econometric methodology. The Frisch Medal, awarded by the Econometric Society, and the Frisch Centre for Applied Economic Analysis at the University of Oslo honor his legacy. He also introduced the term 'model' in its modern economic sense in a 1930 Yale lecture.

Did You Know?

• Frisch coined the term 'econometrics' in 1926.
• He was arrested by Nazi Germany in 1943 and held in three concentration camps until 1944.
• His hobby was bee-keeping, for which he performed genetic studies.
• The Frisch Medal is awarded every two years for the best paper published in Econometrica.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Ragnar Frisch (1926) "On a Problem in Pure Eco­nomics: Translated by JS Chipman." Preferences, Utility, and Demand: A Minnesota Symposium. 1926." — Ragnar Frisch "Ragnar Frisch (1926); Quoted in: "Ragnar Frisch 1895-1995." O. Bjerkholt, 1994." — Ragnar Frisch "We believe that the scope of the new journal would be happily suggested if it is called "Oekonometrika". Accordingly, the quantitative study of economic phenomena here considered may be termed econometrics." — Ragnar Frisch "Frisch (1927) as quoted in Divisia 1953, pp.24-25; Cited in: Bjerkholt, Olav. "Ragnar Frisch and the foundation of the Econometric Society and Econometrica." ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY MONOGRAPHS 31 (1998): 26-57." — Ragnar Frisch