Petter Jakob Bjerve (27 September 1913 – 12 January 2004) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

economist, statistician and politician for the Labour Party. Prominent positions include director of

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

from 1949 to 1980, Norwegian Minister of Finance from 1960 to 1963, and president of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

from 1971 to 1975.

Career

He was born in

Stjørdal Stjørdal () or is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen. Some of the villages in the municipalit ...

as a son of farmers Petter Jakob Bjerve, Sr. (1869–1928) and Kristine Arnstad (1870–1961). He married Rannveig Bremer, a daughter of Anders H. Bremer. Bjerve attended secondary school in

Orkdal Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

, and was active in Clarté before joining the Labour Party. He studied under

Ragnar Frisch Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (3 March 1895 – 31 January 1973) was an influential Norwegian economist known for being one of the major contributors to establishing economics as a quantitative and statistically informed science in the early 20th ce ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, and graduated with the

cand.oecon. Candidatus oeconomices (male) or Candidata oeconomices (female), often abbreviated cand.oecon. is an academic degree in economics at Education in Denmark, Danish, Háskóli Íslands, Icelandic and Higher education in Norway, Norwegian universities ...

degree in 1941. He studied at

The American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valle ...

, Washington DC from 1938 to 1939 and again in the US with a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

grant from 1947 to 1949. At the University of Oslo he worked as a

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, a research institute or a privately held organization, for the purpose of assisting in academic or private research. Research assistants are not in ...

from 1939 to 1940, teacher from 1941 to 1943 and

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

from 1945 to 1949. He also held sporadic lectures between 1945 and 1960. He was also a visiting professor at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1954 to 1955. He was also a secretary in

from 1944 to 1945 and assistant secretary in the

Norwegian Ministry of Finance The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Finance (Norwegian: Finansdepartementet) is a Norwegian ministry established in 1814. The ministry is responsible for state finance, including the state budget, taxation and economic policy in Norway. It is led by T ...

. In 1949 he was hired as a director in Statistics Norway. He remained here until 1980. The exception was his period as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet was the cabinet of Norway from 22 January 1955 to 28 August 1963. The government was led by Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, marking his third term in said role. The cabinet was defeated in a motion of no-confidence in 1 ...

, from 23 April 1960 until his resignation on 4 February 1963. His doctorate thesis ''Planning in Norway 1947–1953'' was finished in 1959, and he defended his thesis for the dr.philos. degree in 1962 while serving as Minister of Finance. He was a prolific writer throughout his career. He was president of the

from 1971 to 1975, and honorary member from 1986. He was an honorary member of ''Statistiska Föreningen'' in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from 1951, the Finnish Statistical Society from 1960, the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...

from 1964 and the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

from 1967. In 1964 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
accessed 2016-07-23. He was a board member of

Norsk Regnesentral Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

from 1958 to 1960, of Institutt for anvendt sosialvitenskapelig forskning from 1966 to 1981, of Statsøkonomisk Forening from 1950 to 1953, 1963 to 1967 and 1971 to 1974. He chaired Sosialistiske økonomers forening from 1965 to 1967 and the

Chr. Michelsen Institute The Chr. Michelsens Institutt for Videnskap og Åndsfrihet (CMI) was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. In 1992, the Department for Natural Science and Technology established the ''Ch ...

department of social sciences from 1982 to 1984. Bjerve was also an adviser for governments and banks of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, partly with a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

connection. He also held other positions within the United Nations and

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

systems. He was also a board member of '' Riksskattestyret'' from 1959 to 1963, ''

Dag og Tid Dag, or variant forms, may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''DAG'' (American TV series), 2000–2001 * ''Dag'' (Norwegian TV series), 2010–2015 * ''DAG'' (newspaper), a former free Dutch newspaper * DAG (band), an American funk band * D ...

'' from 1965 to 1967 and Ja til EF 1972, and chairman of Livstrygdelaget Andvake from 1979 to 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjerve, Petter Jakob 1913 births 2004 deaths People from Stjørdal University of Oslo alumni University of Oslo faculty Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian economists Norwegian statisticians Norwegian civil servants Directors of government agencies of Norway Ministers of Finance of Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians Presidents of the International Statistical Institute Norwegian Social Research people Fellows of the American Statistical Association