Evsey Domar
Encyclopedia
Evsey David Domar was a Russian American
economist
, famous as co-author of the Harrod–Domar model.
city of Łódź, which belonged to Russia
at that time. He was raised and educated in Russian Outer Manchuria
, from where he emigrated to the United States
in 1936.
He received his Bachelor of Arts from UCLA in 1939, a Master of Science from the University of Michigan
in 1940, another Master of Science from Harvard University
in 1943, and his doctorate from Harvard in 1947.
In 1946 Evsey Domar married Carola Rosenthal. The couple had two daughters.
He was professor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology
, The University of Chicago
, the Johns Hopkins University
and, from 1957 until the end of his career, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
.
Evsey Domar was a member of several academic organizations, like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, the Econometric Society
, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
. He was on the executive committee of the American Economic Association
from 1962 until 1965, and became the organization's vice president in 1970.
He was also president of the Association for Comparative Economics. Furthermore he worked for the RAND
Corporation, the Ford Foundation
, the Brookings Institution
, the National Science Foundation
, the Battelle Memorial Institute
, and the Institute for Defense Analysis.
Evsey Domar died on April 1, 1997 in the Emerson Hospital in Concord
.
economist. He has made contributions in three main areas of economics: economic history
, comparative economics and economic growth
. In 1946 he advanced the idea that economic growth served to lighten the deficit and the national debt. During the Cold War
he was also an expert on Soviet economics.
However, he is most famous, together with British economist Roy Forbes Harrod, of independently developing what has become to be known as the Harrod–Domar model of economic growth. This model was the precursor to all modern growth models and differed only in its restrictive assumption of fixed proportions in production. The Solow-Swan growth model
that followed several years later borrowed heavily from the Harrod-Domar model and used a variable proportions Cobb-Douglas production function.
Among his students was the economic historian Robert Fogel
, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1993.
Russian American
Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
, famous as co-author of the Harrod–Domar model.
Life
Evsey Domar was born on April 16, 1914 in the PolishPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
city of Łódź, which belonged to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
at that time. He was raised and educated in Russian Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria , is the territory ceded by China to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860. . The northern part of the area was also in dispute between 1643 and 1689...
, from where he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1936.
He received his Bachelor of Arts from UCLA in 1939, a Master of Science from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1940, another Master of Science from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1943, and his doctorate from Harvard in 1947.
In 1946 Evsey Domar married Carola Rosenthal. The couple had two daughters.
He was professor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...
, The University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
and, from 1957 until the end of his career, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
.
Evsey Domar was a member of several academic organizations, like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, the Econometric Society
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation with statistics and mathematics. It was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
. He was on the executive committee of the American Economic Association
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...
from 1962 until 1965, and became the organization's vice president in 1970.
He was also president of the Association for Comparative Economics. Furthermore he worked for the RAND
RAND
RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...
Corporation, the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, the Battelle Memorial Institute
Battelle Memorial Institute
Battelle Memorial Institute is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the...
, and the Institute for Defense Analysis.
Evsey Domar died on April 1, 1997 in the Emerson Hospital in Concord
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
.
Work
Evsey Domar was a KeynesianKeynesian economics
Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomic thought based on the ideas of 20th-century English economist John Maynard Keynes.Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and, therefore, advocates active policy responses by the...
economist. He has made contributions in three main areas of economics: economic history
Economic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
, comparative economics and economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
. In 1946 he advanced the idea that economic growth served to lighten the deficit and the national debt. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
he was also an expert on Soviet economics.
However, he is most famous, together with British economist Roy Forbes Harrod, of independently developing what has become to be known as the Harrod–Domar model of economic growth. This model was the precursor to all modern growth models and differed only in its restrictive assumption of fixed proportions in production. The Solow-Swan growth model
Exogenous growth model
The neoclassical growth model, also known as the Solow–Swan growth model or exogenous growth model, is a class of economic models of long-run economic growth set within the framework of neoclassical economics...
that followed several years later borrowed heavily from the Harrod-Domar model and used a variable proportions Cobb-Douglas production function.
Among his students was the economic historian Robert Fogel
Robert Fogel
Robert William Fogel is an American economic historian and scientist, and winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is now the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and director of the Center for Population Economics at the...
, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1993.
Papers
- The Burden of the Debt and the National Income, 1944, AER.
- Proportional Income Taxation and Risk-Taking, with Richard MusgraveRichard MusgraveRichard Abel Musgrave was an American economist of German heritage. His most cited work is The Theory of Public Finance , described as "the first English-language treatise in the field."-Life:...
, 1944. - Capital Expansion, Rate of Growth and Employment, 1946, Econometrica.
- Expansion and Employment, 1947, AER.
- The Problem of Capital Accumulation, 1948, AER.
- Capital Accumulation and the End of Prosperity, 1949, Proceedings of Internat. Statistical Conference
- The Effect of Foreign Investment on the Balance of Payments, 1950, AER.
- A Theoretical Analysis of Economic Growth, 1952, AER.
- Depreciation, Replacement and Growth, 1953, EJ.
- The Case for Accelerated Depreciation, 1953, QJE.
- Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, 1957.
- On the Measurement of Technological Change, 1961, EJ.
- The Soviet Collective Farm as a Producer Co-Operative, 1966, AER.
- An Index-Number Tournament, 1967, QJE.
- The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A hypothesis, 1970, Journal of Economic History.
- On The Optimal Compensation of a Socialist Manager, 1974, QJE.