William Baumol


William Baumol was born on February 26, 1922 in New York City to immigrant parents, Solomon and LIllian Baumol.  Instilled with a deep sense of social responsibility from his upbringing, he decided to study economics as an undergrad. After graduating, he joined the military and worked within the Agriculture Department. When he returned, Baumol continued his studies and went on to pursue a PhD in Philosophy from the London School of Economics. [1] 

 Professionally, Baumol headed many organizations. Some of which include the American Economic Association and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. He was a professor at Princeton University, where he remained up until his death. Having authored 40 books and published over 500 articles, he was a prolific writer and contributed to development across many fields of economics. His areas of research included entrepreneurship and innovation, industrial organization, antitrust economics and regulation, and economics of the arts, to name a few. [2]

His most renown contribution came from his studies of economics and the arts. From these studies came the idea known as Baumol's cost disease. [3] He also received attention for calling for more value to be placed on entrepreneurs and for promoting contestable markets. [4] 

 Prior to writing this post, I knew nothing about William Baumol. It has been interesting to learn about a person that has contributed so much to the world. Considering the breadth of his works, he will certainly be a relevant figure throughout this course, the economics of organizations.

 References
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/business/economy/william-baumol-dead-economist-coined-cost-disease.html?mcubz=3
[2] http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/william-baumol
[3] https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21721906-prolific-writer-and-originator-idea-cost-disease-he-was-95-william
[4] https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/05/12/william-baumol-economist-broad-range-and-influence-dies-95

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanSeptember 5, 2017 at 2:07 AM

    You might be interested to learn about Baumol's Cost Disease, which gives an explanation why Higher Education (and symphony orchestras) keep on getting more expensive. Each year I predict that Baumol will win the Nobel Prize in Economics. Maybe this year is his time.

    ReplyDelete

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