Douglass C. North

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Douglass C. North

AKA Douglass Cecil North

Born: 5-Nov-1920
Birthplace: Cambridge, MA

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Economist, Historian

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Cliometrics

Douglass C. North and Robert W. Fogel were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1993, for their development of "cliometrics", a new method of studying economic history using modern statistical techniques. North is also known for research that suggests that the free-market cannot generate growth unless protected by strong governmental and legal institutions, including courts and intellectual property laws. Before becoming an economic historian, North worked briefly as a photographer under Dorothea Lange.

Father: (insurance executive)
Wife: (m. 1944, div., three sons)
Son: Douglass North
Son: Christopher North
Son: Malcolm North

High School: Choate Rosemary Hall
University: BA General Curriculum, UC Berkeley (1942)
Teacher: Navigation, U.S. Merchant Marine (1944-46)
Teacher: Economics, University of Washington (1950-71)
University: PhD Economics, UC Berkeley (1952)
Professor: Economics, University of Washington (1971-83)
Professor: Political Economics, Rice University (1979)
Professor: Economics, Washington University in St. Louis (1983-)

Nobel Prize for Economics 1993 (with Robert W. Fogel)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Economists for Peace and Security
Social Science Research Council
National Bureau of Economic Research Research fellow (1957-58)
National Bureau of Economic Research Director (1967-87)
Western Economic Association

Official Website:
http://economics.wustl.edu/faculty/faculty.php?id=15

Author of books:
The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790–1860 (1961)
Institutional Change and American Economic Growth (1971, with Lance Davis)
The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (1973, with Robert Thomas)
Abortion, Baseball & Weed: Economic Issues of Our Times (1973, with Roger Leroy Miller)
Growth and Welfare in the American Past (1974)
Structure and Change in Economic History (1981)
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (1990)
Empirical Studies in Institutional Change (1996, with Lee Alston & Thrainn Eggertsson)
Understanding the Process of Economic Change (2005)
Political Institutions and Financial Development (2007, with Stephen Haber and Barry Weingast)

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