Trygve Hoff

Who was Trygve Hoff?

Trygve J. B. Hoff was a Norwegian businessman, writer and editor of the Farmand business magazine.

Hoff is most well known for his role as editor of the Farmand in Norway until his death. While studying economics at the University of Oslo, he became interested in the economic calculation debate and engaged in it on the side of the Austrian School which became his doctoral dissertation. His doctoral dissertation was however ignored, and researchers point to the political views of his professors most prominently Ragnar Frisch strong socialist-leanings and Norwegian Labour Party affiliations and the post-World War political atmosphere as being perhaps the cause of this underappreciation. As well during the German occupation of Norway 1940-1945, Hoff was put in jail by the Germans for his political views.

Trygve Hoff was a founding member of the Mont Pelerin Society. As author, he contributed to the economic calculation debate, starting with his 1938 book Economic Calculation in the Socialist Society.