Dear NBER Board Members and Researchers in the Development of the
American Economy and Political Economy Programs -
I write with the sad news that Douglass C. North, who served as a member
of the NBER's Board of Directors for nearly 15 years in the 1970s and
1980s, and who spent a year at the NBER as a Research Associate in the
late 1950s, passed away on Monday, November 23. He was 95. Doug made
pioneering contributions in economic history and in the history of
economic thought. His analysis of the role of property rights and other
institutions in affecting long-run economic development in Europe and
the United States was particularly influential. He shared the 1993
Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Robert Fogel "for having renewed
research in economic history by applying economic theory and
quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional
change."
Doug received both his B.A. and his Ph.D. from the University of
California at Berkeley. He spent more than three decades on the faculty
at the University of Washington in Seattle. He joined the Department of
Economics at Washington University in St. Louis in 1993 as the Henry R.
Luce Professor of Law and Liberty. At the time of his death, he was the
Spencer T. Olin Professor Emeritus at Washington University. A New York
Times obituary provides a more detailed description of Doug's career and
contributions:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/business/economy/douglass-c-north-nobel-laureate-economist-dies-at-95.html?_r=0
Doug was a path-breaking scholar whose research informed central
questions about economic history and transformed the direction of his
research field. The NBER benefited from his insights and energy as a
board member and as an active participant in and contributor to many
research programs and meetings. He will be deeply missed.
Jim
Received on Wed Nov 25 2015 - 14:18:28 EST
