Herschel Grossman
Encyclopedia
Herschel I. Grossman was an economist best known for his work on general disequilibrium
with Robert Barro
in the 1970s and later work on property rights and the emergence of the state.
Grossman received a bachelor of arts from the University of Virginia
(1960), a B.Phil. from the University of Oxford
(1962), and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University
(1965). Grossman collaborated with Barro to produce the influential article "A General Disequilibrium Model of Income," which held the distinction of being the most cited article ever published in the American Economic Review for many years. Grossman and Barro expanded on their work and produced the classical textbook Money, Employment, and Inflation in 1976.
Following his work on disequilibrium, Grossman made several contributions to the study of economic policy and political economy. His work transitioned as he investigated the institutional frictions behind Keynesian macroeconomic models. Grossman's work in political economy included the study of conflict. In a 2003 paper he explored the use of expected future scarcity as an explanatory variable in current conflicts. Grossman also investigated property rights. He analyzed property rights formation under "common pool" situations, where all resources are initially held in common, and "initial claims" cases, where individuals have an initial claim to resources before rights are established. Grossman's work showed how property rights could emerge in a decentralized manner. Grossman also studied the trade-offs between a decentralized property rights and a centralized authority. He found a centralized authority would emerge when creating defensive work were relatively expensive and appropriations (taxation) were relatively easy. Otherwise, a decentralized system would emerge.
Grossman died suddenly in 2004 while attending a conference in Marseilles, France.
General disequilibrium
General disequilibrium occurs in macroeconomic theory when prices are fixed in a general equilibrium framework so that they fail to adjust to market clearing levels. Economists in the 1970s investigated how economic policy would impact an economy where prices did not adjust quickly to changes in...
with Robert Barro
Robert Barro
Robert Joseph Barro is an American classical macroeconomist and the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics at Harvard University. The Research Papers in Economics project ranked him as the 4th most influential economist in the world as of August 2011 based on his academic contributions...
in the 1970s and later work on property rights and the emergence of the state.
Grossman received a bachelor of arts from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
(1960), a B.Phil. from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(1962), and his Ph.D. from 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...
(1965). Grossman collaborated with Barro to produce the influential article "A General Disequilibrium Model of Income," which held the distinction of being the most cited article ever published in the American Economic Review for many years. Grossman and Barro expanded on their work and produced the classical textbook Money, Employment, and Inflation in 1976.
Following his work on disequilibrium, Grossman made several contributions to the study of economic policy and political economy. His work transitioned as he investigated the institutional frictions behind Keynesian macroeconomic models. Grossman's work in political economy included the study of conflict. In a 2003 paper he explored the use of expected future scarcity as an explanatory variable in current conflicts. Grossman also investigated property rights. He analyzed property rights formation under "common pool" situations, where all resources are initially held in common, and "initial claims" cases, where individuals have an initial claim to resources before rights are established. Grossman's work showed how property rights could emerge in a decentralized manner. Grossman also studied the trade-offs between a decentralized property rights and a centralized authority. He found a centralized authority would emerge when creating defensive work were relatively expensive and appropriations (taxation) were relatively easy. Otherwise, a decentralized system would emerge.
Grossman died suddenly in 2004 while attending a conference in Marseilles, France.