Tõnu Puu (

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, 25 September 1936 –

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

, 11 July 2020) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n-born Swedish

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 ...

. He has been Professor of Economics at

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

Personal

Tõnu Puu took refuge from Estonia to Sweden upon the Soviet invasion in 1944, with his parents and one sister. He had two children from a previous marriage, Margareta Puu (born 1974), a statistician, and Magnus Puu (born 1981), a computer programmer. Puu died on 11 July 2020, aged 83.

Education

Puu studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

from 1956 to 1964, and finished his PhD in economics in 1964 with Professor

Tord Palander Tord Folkeson Palander (6 October 1902 – 1972) was a Swedish economist. His Ph.D. thesis, ''Beiträge zur Standortstheorie'' (Contributions to Location Theory), completed in 1935 at the Stockholm University College, laid foundations to regional ...

as thesis adviser. The thesis was graded "A" (Laudatur), the highest on a six-step scale (a rare distinction, used only thrice in Economics at Swedish universities in the 20th century). The thesis was awarded the

Erik Lindahl Erik Lindahl (21 November 1891 – 6 January 1960) was a Swedish economist. He was professor of economics at Uppsala University 1942–58 and in 1956–59 he was the President of the International Economic Association. He was an also an advis ...

Prize.

Academic positions

Puu worked as acting full professor of economics at Uppsala University 1963–1970, and was appointed ordinary Professor of Economics by Royal patent at Umeå University in 1971. After emeritation in 2001, he worked as senior professor at the Centre for Regional Science (CERUM). He had various commitments, such as being chairman of the Department of Economics, Business, and Law, chairman of the Board of the University Library, and vice president of the Union of Swedish University Professors. Puu is currently Fellow of the Regional Science Association International.

Editorial boards

Puu was associated with the following scientific journals: Annals of Regional Science, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Regional Science, Networks and Spatial Theory, Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, International Journal of Shape Modelling, Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, Mansoura Science Bulletin, a.o.

Other commitments

Puu was Founder and Director of the Nordic Baroque Music Festival from 1987 to 2001, and received in that capacity the Prize for extraordinary promotion of culture, awarded by the county government. Other musical interests are playing the

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

, and being a "luthier", making his own instruments.

Publications

Puu has published over 20 books and 120 scholarly articles in economics, philosophy, and mathematics over the period 1962–2011. Topics studied include (in chronological order); portfolio selection, investment and production, philosophy of science (in collaboration with Sir

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian–British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the ...

), spatial economics, economics of the arts, nonlinear dynamic processes, oligopoly, and business cycles. The best known work are ''Attractors, Bifurcations, & Chaos - Nonlinear Phenomena in Economics'', (Springer-Verlag 2003), ''Mathematical Location and Land Use Theory'' (Springer-Verlag 1997), and ''Spatial Economics: Potential, Density, and Flow'' (North-Holland Publishing Company 1985), co-authored with Martin J. Beckmann of Brown University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puu, Tonu 1936 births 2020 deaths Swedish economists Academic staff of Umeå University Uppsala University alumni People from Tallinn Estonian World War II refugees Estonian emigrants to Sweden Regional economists