The most Frischian among the Norwegian Economists

Olav Bjerkholt passed away on February 16, 2020.

What is a Frischian Economist? Ragnar Frisch himself gave some answers in 1946, when he defined “The Responsibility of the Econometrician” (Frisch 1946). Applying Frisch’s definitions to Olav Bjerkholt, we would describe him as an economist whose activities show civic engagement in the following meanings:

1/an economist committed to community life. This commitment is inspired by the journey of his mother Aase Bjerkholt who became Deputy Chair for the Labour Party Women’s Movement in 1952 before being appointed in 1956 as the first Minister for Family and Consumer Affairs in Einar Gerhardsens’ Labour government. Olav had strong personal convictions about the need for solidarity and universalism while being very respectful of the diversity of cultures. An ardent pacifist, he was a child of the Second World War, born on 12 August 1942, in Norway, a country independent since 1905, but then under a government that had settled into collaboration with the occupying Nazis. As his colleague and friend Nils Petter Gleditsch reminds us in his tribute, Olav’s later fight for peace went through his missions for PRIO, the Peace Research Institute Oslo:

« Olav Bjerkholt made important contributions to PRIO’s research during two separate periods. In 1965, Emile Benoit was planning a major international conference on ‘Disarmament and World Economic Interdependence’ and sought collaboration with PRIO to hold the conference in Oslo. Johan Galtung, PRIO’s Director, took this on but also wanted to add to the program a paper by a Norwegian scholar. With his usual flair for academic talent, Galtung picked on Olav Bjerkholt, then a 23-year old student, to do a study on the economic effects of disarmament in Norway.

Galtung called Petter Jacob Bjerve, Director of SSB, and asked if Bjerkholt could use the Norwegian national accounts model (MODIS). Bjerve was initially unenthusiastic. He is reported to have commented that one might as well study the effects of eliminating the Ministry of Education or some other arbitrarily selected portion of the national budget. Galtung explained that disarmament was a topic of considerable international interest, in the United Nations and elsewhere… Bjerve yielded and hired Olav Bjerkholt, who produced a chapter in Benoit’s book (1967) and an article in Norwegian. He went on to have a distinguished career in Statistics Norway »

2/an economist with an understanding that cooperation between different institutions is necessary to develop economic thinking. Economic research is done in universities, external research institutes, national statistics offices, at the United Nations and in other international organisations, as well as in contexts of public debate. The dialogue thus promoted between these bodies confronts rigorous scientific discourse with compassionate understanding of social and political needs. Such dialogue was at the heart of Olav’s activities.

3/an economist highly respectful of democracy. Economic analysis must be objective, making use of solid analytical frameworks, sound methodologies, and reliable and consolidated data. The work on data collection and the quality of statistics was an important item on his research agenda, especially when he was in charge of the research department in economics at Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå). Olav considered the task of the economist to provide analysis and advice to policymakers. The goals and priorities of economic policy are defined by the representatives of the people who are empowered to make the decisions. Econometricians have to draw up different scenarios for economic policies, as Frisch had suggested in 1963, when he defined his ‘Selection and Implementation’ approach to policy making (Dupont-Kieffer 2019).

Olav’s investigations, both in applied economics/policy advice and in the history of economic thought, convey a willingness to understand how ideas and concepts emerge and travel throughout time and institutions. This reflexive approach explains the path he has taken in his career but also the continuous questioning of tools and assumptions, and the exploration of new research questions, two key elements of his contributions.

Olav was a brilliant pupil from his very young age, attending mathematics and history classes, but also pastry classes. He started studying science at the University of Oslo, after having passed the baccalaureate (in mathematics, statistics and philosophy) in 1961 as a free candidate 1 year ahead of schedule. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy in 1963, after 2 years instead of the usual three and a half years. He then decided to study mathematics before specialising in economics in 1968. In 1971–1972, he was a scholar at the MIT Department of Economics. As mentioned above, he began his career using MODIS, a macroeconomic model developed by Frisch, under the supervision of Bjerve, a disciple of Frisch who was involved in establishing national accounting and the statistical system in Norway.

Olav’s background shows the multiple facets of the economist’s profession and the fruitfulness of going back and forth between analytical and methodological questions in economic research. He worked at Statistics Norway from 1965 to 1996, becoming Director of Research in 1979 and being promoted to the position of Assistant Director General (Head of the Research Department) in 1984. From 1986 to 1992, he was Assistant Professor of Energy Economics in the Economics Department at the University of Oslo. In the framework of cooperation between the university, Statistics Norway and the Institute of Economics originally set up by Frisch and his disciples, Olav pursued a career as Professor of Economics at the University of Oslo from 1996 onwards while continuing to work for Statistics Norway as a research associate.

Olav was strongly engaged in research on a wide range of contemporary issues: disarmament, fossil fuels, energy issues in growth plans in developing countries, the economics of planned economies in transition, and the economics of state capitalist economies such as China. His analytical and empirical contributions have earned him invitations to conduct expert investigations for the International Monetary Fund (notably in Indonesia on fiscal issues) and for the United Nations (in Saudi Arabia on macroeconomic planning) as well as to advise on the establishment of research and education programmes in Russia for almost twenty years (since 2000).

Olav’s contributions to the history of econometrics reflect on the tools developed and used by economists for analysis and for the definition and conduct of economic policies. Olav edited two volumes of Frisch’s seminal papers on econometrics and he organised the symposium at the Frisch centennial in 1995. This symposium and Olav’s research on the early stages of the Econometrics Society helped economists in and beyond Norway to understand the pioneering character of Frisch’s work. Moreover, Olav has shown the extent to which reflections on inference are intertwined in an article written with Haavelmo and Bjerkholt (2007), he has written about the history of Input-Output analysis in an article with Bjerkholt and Kurz (2006), and he has highlighted the role of forecasting models in the conduct of economic policies (2001; Bjerkholt and Lie 2003). His studies have made it possible to detail the political and scientific context in which econometrics was able to develop, and to what extent the individual interactions between economists in the European and global intellectual contexts of the inter-war period atmosphere, as for example described by Stephan Zweig in The World of Yesterday (1943), were decisive for creating a community of scholars around the Frischian ambition of “the unification of mathematics, statistics and economics” (Frisch 1926).

Françoise Waquet, in her book “Une histoire émotionnelle du savoir” (CNRS Editions, 2019), describes researchers as people of flesh and blood. The human dimension is often overlooked in lists of publications and contributions even when these reflect the course of life, commitment and values of these producers of knowledge. Olav had an insatiable curiosity about economics, but also a curiosity about all forms of cultural activities that touch the heart and the mind. He shared his love for music with his wife Inge, and he never missed his favourite music programme, which introduced him to different interpretations of the great classics. In particular, he looked forward to the quiz that concluded the programme. (I will not mention here his love for Russian music, which made him learn to play the balalaika, nor his high appreciation of Danish folk songs). His unlimited curiosity included cinema—ah! his love for western films, especially The Magnificent Seven (in the version of 1960)—, literature and poetry, opera, and discovering new countries. He was curious about new human encounters, whatever the place, social or cultural background.

It was a pleasure to see Olav’s enthusiasm for archives, and the almost childish delight at the discovery of an unpublished letter or manuscript that could shed light on the processes of thought formation, creation and animation of communities of economists. Who does not remember his intransigence on the quality of the research, the accuracy of the quotations and his condemnation of those who retain in a text only the one sentence that supports their argument, brushing aside everything that would contradict their thesis.

And above all Olav, epicurean and lover of the pleasures of life: a discriminating gourmet satisfying his curiosity, his desire to share a good meal with friends. He loved exquisite dishes but also freshly caught mackerel, to be tasted grilled at breakfast in his village refuge. Olav enjoyed wine and cognac while smoking a good cigar on the terrace, lulled by the lights of the Norwegian summer.

Last but not least it should be mentioned that Olav was a great mentor of doctoral students and young researchers, who benefitted from his tireless support and kindness – which was not always the case with his colleagues. He was an economist with strong political convictions, a strong advocate of peace and democracy, curious about countries with a nascent democratic history. He was a feminist who on a daily basis gave a chance to many colleagues, contributing significantly to equal opportunities between men and women. He tirelessly supported Hilde Boer’s contributions and career at a time when her research findings on discrimination against women in the labour market were mocked. Once established, his friendship was precious and unfailing. Above all, his sense of humour, exercised on a daily basis with his wife Inge Floe, should be remembered.