Henry Schultz (September 4, 1893 – November 26, 1938) was an American economist, statistician, and one of the founders of
econometrics
Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...
.
Paul Samuelson
Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...
named Schultz (along with
Harry Gunnison Brown
Harry Gunnison Brown (May 7, 1880– March 11, 1975) was a Georgist economist teaching at Yale in the early 20th century. Paul Samuelson named Brown in a list of "American saints in economics" that included only 6 other economists born after 1860 ...
,
Allyn Abbott Young
Allyn Abbott Young (September 19, 1876 – March 7, 1929) was an American economist. He was born into a middle-class family in Kenton, Ohio. He died aged 52 in London, his life cut short by pneumonia during an influenza epidemic. He was then at ...
,
Henry Ludwell Moore
Henry Ludwell Moore (November 21, 1869 – April 28, 1958) was an American economist known for his pioneering work in econometrics. Paul Samuelson named Moore (along with Harry Gunnison Brown, Allyn Abbott Young, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Frank Knig ...
,
Frank Knight
Frank Hyneman Knight (November 7, 1885 – April 15, 1972) was an American economist who spent most of his career at the University of Chicago, where he became one of the founders of the Chicago School. Nobel laureates Milton Friedman, George S ...
,
Jacob Viner
Jacob Viner (3 May 1892 – 12 September 1970) was a Canadian economist and is considered with Frank Knight and Henry Simons to be one of the "inspiring" mentors of the early Chicago school of economics in the 1930s: he was one of the leading fig ...
, and
Wesley Clair Mitchell
Wesley Clair Mitchell (August 5, 1874 – October 29, 1948) was an American economist known for his empirical work on business cycles and for guiding the National Bureau of Economic Research in its first decades.
Mitchell was referred to as Thor ...
) as one of the several "American saints in economics" born after 1860.
Life
Henry Schultz was born on September 4, 1893 in a Polish Jewish family in
Sharkawshchyna
Sharkawshchyna or Sharkovshchina ( be, Ша́ркаўшчына, Šarkaŭščyna; russian: Шарковщина; pl, Szarkowszczyna; yi, שאַרקוישטשינע, Sharkoyshtchine) is an urban-type settlement in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, and the ...
, in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(now part of
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
). " Schultz's family - father, mother (Rebecca Kissin) with their 2 sons - Henry and his brother Joseph moved to New York City in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Henry Schultz completed his primary education, as well as undergraduate studies at the
College of the City of New York, receiving a BA in 1916. For graduate work, Henry Schultz enrolled at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, but had to interrupt studies in 1917 because of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. After the war he received a scholarship which enabled him to spend 1919 at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
and the
Galton Laboratory
The Galton Laboratory was a laboratory for research into eugenics and then into human genetics based at University College London in London, England. It was originally established in 1904, and became part of UCL's biology department in 1996.
The a ...
of
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, where he had the opportunity to attend
Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an English mathematician and biostatistician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university st ...
's lectures on statistics.
After returning to the US, in 1920 Schultz married to Bertha Greenstein. In the future years, the couple had two daughters, Ruth and Jean. Schultz continued studying for his doctoral degree at Columbia, while at the same time conducting statistical work for the War Trade Board, the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
and the
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...
. He was awarded a PhD in economics from Columbia in 1925 with a thesis entitled ''Estimation of
Demand Curves'', written under the supervision of
Henry L. Moore.
In 1926, Schultz went to the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, where he spent the rest of his career teaching and doing research. In 1930, he was one of the sixteen founding members of the
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...
.
Henry Schultz died on November 26, 1938, near
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, in a car accident that also killed his wife and his two daughters.
Work
Led by his belief that economics needs rigorous quantitative study to become a science, Henry Schultz was one of the founders of mathematical and statistical economics. His research was centered around a large program dedicated to the theory and estimation of private
demand
In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...
for goods functions, a project which started in the early 1920s, during his studies at the University of Chicago, and was completed shortly before his death with the publication of his book, ''The Theory and Measurement of Demand''.
Selected publications
* and XXXIII (6): 577–637. (PhD thesis)
*
*
*
Influences and legacy
Schultz was the doctoral thesis advisor for several students at Chicago, notably 1978
Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
winner
Herbert A. Simon
Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist, with a Ph.D. in political science, whose work also influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary ...
and future
Cowles Commission
The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics is an economic research institute at Yale University. It was created as the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at Colorado Springs in 1932 by businessman and economist Alfred Cowles. In 193 ...
director
Theodore O. Yntema
Theodore Otte Yntema (1900 – September 18, 1985) was an American economist specializing in the field of quantitative analysis in finance.
Education
Yntema graduated summa cum laude in 1921 from Hope College as valedictorian. in 1922, he rece ...
. Schultz also influenced
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...
, who was his student and, for a year, his research assistant.
Schultz started a mathematical economics school at the University of Chicago which, after his death, was in danger to disappear. This prompted the University to invite the
Cowles Commission
The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics is an economic research institute at Yale University. It was created as the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at Colorado Springs in 1932 by businessman and economist Alfred Cowles. In 193 ...
, which had a research agenda focused on empirical economics, to move its headquarters there. As a result, the Commission moved to the University of Chicago in 1939 and Theodore O. Yntema, one of Schultz's students, was named as its new president.
[Cowles Commission]
"Economic Theory and Measurement. A Twenty Year Research Report 1932–1952"
His namesake professorship at the University of Chicago, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, is held by Nobel Laureate
James Heckman
James Joseph Heckman (born April 19, 1944) is a Nobel Prize-winning American economist at the University of Chicago, where he is The Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College; Professor at the Harris School of Pub ...
.
See also
*
Henry Ludwell Moore
Henry Ludwell Moore (November 21, 1869 – April 28, 1958) was an American economist known for his pioneering work in econometrics. Paul Samuelson named Moore (along with Harry Gunnison Brown, Allyn Abbott Young, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Frank Knig ...
Notes and references
Notes
References
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*
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schultz, Henry
1893 births
1938 deaths
20th-century American economists
Columbia University alumni
Fellows of the Econometric Society
University of Chicago faculty
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Belarusian Jews
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States