Abstract
Writing a captivating book about a bureaucrat and his statistical modelling techniques is impossible? Erwin Dekker’s biography of Jan Tinbergen proves otherwise. As he has done before, Dekker tells the history of economic thought and methodology as part and parcel of general intellectual and cultural history. Nevertheless, he never downplays or neglects the analysis of inner-scientific problem situations. Drawing on rich archival material and conversations with Tinbergen’s family, students, and colleagues, Dekker vividly introduces us to an extraordinary personality and career. Tinbergen of course was so much more than a Dutch bureaucrat and Nobel Prize winning econometrician. He became a key figure in transforming the discipline of economics. Perhaps even more sweeping – and reaching far beyond academia – is Tinbergen’s re-invention of the role played by economists in the modern nation state and in the international community. Ultimately, he spearheaded a shift in the public notion of how malleable “the economy” is by conscious policy efforts – or so Dekker convincingly exhibits and critically discusses. Anybody reflecting on the proper role of scientific experts in democratic societies, may want to pick up Dekker’s entertaining and thought-provoking study.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Together with Ragnar Frisch, Tinbergen received the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel when it was awarded for the very first time in 1969. He was envisaged as a candidate for the Peace Prize too. Remarkably, Jan’s brother Nikolaas Tinbergen obtained the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for his work in ethology.
- 3.
For the scientific world conception’s partial roots in youth movements, see e.g. Damböck et al. (2022).
- 4.
Among the secondary means exercised and advocated by AJC is censorship of movies and books that might “misguide” adolescents.
- 5.
Letter from van Cleeff to Tinbergen 24/08/1935 (as cited in Dekker 2021, 120).
- 6.
John Maynard Keynes, “Professor Tinbergen’s method,” 1939 (as cited in Dekker 2021, 186).
- 7.
Tinbergen and Keynes, “On a Method of Statistical Business-Cycle Research. A Comment,” 1940 (as cited in Dekker 2021, 187).
- 8.
Letter from Gottfried Haberler to Arthur Loveday 20/04/1938 (as cited in Dekker 2021, 178).
- 9.
The quote is from Tinbergen’s political and scientific fellow traveller Jan Goudriaan (see Dekker 2021, 223).
- 10.
Tinbergen was much more eager to meet another member of the Vienna Circle, Karl Menger, to exchange ideas about mathematical economics (see Dekker 2021, 70).
- 11.
Dekker stresses that, just like in the 1930s in the Netherlands, Tinbergen’s emphasis on planning is not to be confused with full socialization of the means of production. He encouraged planning experts to listen to and cooperate with local entrepreneurs and state officials, on whom the success of any plan depended. Overall, Tinbergean development policy remains a top-down endeavour though. Tinbergen himself lived up to the highest standards of integrity, hoping that elites in general could serve as role models and advisors. They would help an often morally and intellectually misguided public to overcome its prejudices, misconceptions, and narrow self-interest - so Tinbergen’s aspiration.
- 12.
- 13.
Among the many developing countries for which Tinbergen worked as an expert, Dekker chooses Turkey for a detailed case study.
- 14.
For the varied and sometimes ambiguous use of standard terms of economics, see e.g. Machlup (1963/1991).
- 15.
Dekker’s research on Tinbergen continues in the project Jan Tinbergen: The Thinker at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
- 16.
Echoing Wittgenstein and Carnap, Tinbergen acknowledged that beyond the “measurable”, there would always remain something scientifically inaccessible – the “imponderable” (see e.g. Dekker 2021, 103–104).
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- 19.
For the extreme case of non-benevolent or even malevolent superintelligence, see Bostrom (2014).
- 20.
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Linsbichler, A. (2023). Review Essay: Jan Tinbergen and the Rise of Technocracy. Erwin Dekker, Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021, xxii+465 pp., ISBN: 9781108856546. In: Stadler, F. (eds) Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07789-0_19
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