Jacob Marschak (23 July 1898 – 27 July 1977) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Life

Born in a Jewish family of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, Jacob Marschak (until 1933 Jakob) was the son of a

jeweler A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...

. During his studies he joined the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

Menshevik Party, becoming a member of the Menshevik International Caucus. In 1918 he was the labor minister in the Terek Soviet Republic. In 1919 he emigrated to Germany, where he studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

and the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. From 1922 to 1926 he was a journalist, and in 1928 he joined the new

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Institut für Weltwirtschaft The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Institut für Weltwirtschaft, or IfW) is an independent, non-profit economic research institute and think tank based in Kiel, Germany. In 2017, it was ranked as one of the top 50 most influential think t ...

''. With the gathering Nazi storm, he emigrated to England, where he went to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

to teach at the Oxford Institute of Statistics, which was funded by the

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

, allowing him to emigrate in 1939 to the United States. After teaching at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

, in 1943 he went to

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 led the Cowles Commission. He followed the commission's move to

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, and he then became a professor at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in 1960. In 1972 he co-founded

Team Theory A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...

with

Roy Radner Roy Radner (June 29, 1927 - October 6, 2022) was Leonard N. Stern School Professor of Business at New York University. He was a micro-economic theorist. Radner's research interests included strategic analysis of climate change, bounded ratio ...

. Marschak was fluent in approximately one dozen languages. Shortly before he was due to become president of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members. History and Constitution The AEA was esta ...

, he died from a cardiac arrest. UCLA sponsors the recurrin
Jacob Marschak Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Mathematics in the Behavior Sciences

Major publications

Books

* * * * * *

Chapters in books

* ::Translates as: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Journal articles

* * * * * * * * * * *
Pdf version.
* * * * * * * * *

Honours

* 1946 President 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. ...

* 1963 Honorary Fellow of 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. ...

* 1967 Distinguished Fellow of the

References

External links

Biography at HET

National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marschak, Jacob 1898 births 1977 deaths Jewish American scientists Politicians from Kyiv Fellows of the American Statistical Association Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Soviet emigrants to Germany Fellows of the Econometric Society Presidents of the Econometric Society Mensheviks 20th-century American writers 20th-century American economists Soviet emigrants to the United States Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom German emigrants to the United States 20th-century Ukrainian economists Presidents of the American Economic Association Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association Jewish Ukrainian social scientists