Trygve Haavelmo

Who was Trygve Haavelmo?

Trygve Magnus Haavelmo, born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an influential economist with main research interests centered on the fields of econometrics and economics theory. He received a degree in economics from the University of Oslo in 1930 and eventually joined the Institute of Economics with the recommendation of Ragnar Frisch. Haavelmo was Frisch’s assistant for a period of time until he was appointed as head of computations for the institute. In 1936, Haavelmo studied statistics at University College London while he subsequently traveled to Berlin, Geneva, and Oxford for additional studies. Trygve Haavelmo assumed a lecturing position at the University of Aarhus in 1938 for one year and then in the subsequent year was offered an academic scholarship to travel abroad and study in the United States. During World War II he worked with Nortraship in the Statistical Department in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in 1946 for his work on The Probability Approach in Econometrics.

He was a Professor of economics and statistics at the University of Oslo between 1948–79 and was the trade department head of division from 1947–48. Haavelmo acquires a prominent position in modern economics through his logical critique of a series of custom conceptions in mathematical analysis.