The Years of High Econometrics

The creation of econometrics was the most important transformation in twentieth-century economics and the establishment of the Econometric Society, the Cowles Commission and the journal Econometrica were just three of the events that would shape its development. Taking Ragnar Frisch as the narrator, Francisco Louçã presents a comprehensive history of this fascinating innovation.

Louçã includes all the major players in this history from the economists like
Wesley Mitchell, Irving Fisher, Joseph Schumpeter and Maynard Keynes to the
mathematicians like John von Neumann, as well as the statisticians like Karl
Pearson, Jerzy Neyman and R.A. Fisher. He discusses the evolution of their
thought, detailing the debates, the quarrels and the interrogations that crystallised their work. Louçã even offers a conclusion of sorts, suggesting that some of the founders of econometrics became critical of its later development.

This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers
alike in the history of economics, not least because it contains archive material that has not been published. It would be a welcome accompaniment to students taking courses on statistics and probability, econometric methods, macroeconometrics and the history of economic thought.

Francisco Louçã is Professor of Economics at the ISEG in Lisbon. He is also a member of Parliament.