Hirofumi Uzawa

Hirofumi Uzawa
宇沢 弘文
Born(1928-07-21)July 21, 1928
Yonago, Tottori, Japan
DiedSeptember 18, 2014(2014-09-18) (aged 86)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Academic career
FieldMathematical economics
InstitutionStanford University
University of California at Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Tokyo
Chuo University
Doshisha University
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo (B.Math, 1951)
Stanford University
Tohoku University (Ph.D., 1962)
Doctoral
students		David Cass
Karl Shell
Miguel Sidrauski
InfluencesShokichi Iyanaga
Joichi Suetsuna
Kenneth Arrow
Hajime Kawakami
ContributionsUzawa two-sector growth model
Uzawa iteration
Uzawa condition
Integrability of demand
AwardsPerson of Cultural Merit (1983)
Order of Culture (1997)
Blue Planet Prize (2009)
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Hirofumi Uzawa (宇沢 弘文, Uzawa Hirofumi, July 21, 1928 – September 18, 2014) was a Japanese economist.

Biography

Uzawa was born on July 21, 1928, in Yonago, Tottori to a farming family.

He attended the Tokyo First Middle School (currently the Hibiya High School) and the First Higher School, Japan (now the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo).[1]

He graduated from the Mathematics Department of the University of Tokyo in 1951; he was a special research student from 1951 to 1953. At that time, he discovered the true nature of economics in the words of John Ruskin, “There is no wealth, but life.” which was quoted in the foreword to Tale of Poverty (貧乏物語, binbō monogatari) by Hajime Kawakami, and decided to study economics.[2]

His paper on decentralized economic planning caught the eye of Kenneth Arrow at Stanford University. He went to study Economics at Stanford University in 1956 with Fulbright fellowship, and became a research assistant, then assistant professor in 1956, then assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1960, and then associate professor at Stanford in 1961.[2] In 1962, he received a Ph.D. from Tohoku University.[3] He became a professor at the University of Chicago in 1964, and a professor of University of Tokyo's Department of Economics in 1969. He also taught at Niigata University, Chuo University, and United Nations University.[4] Joseph E. Stiglitz and George A. Akerlof did research under Uzawa at the University of Chicago and David Cass studied under Uzawa at Stanford University.[5][2]

Uzawa was a senior fellow at the Research Center of Social Common Capital at Doshisha University. He held the position of the president of the Econometric Society from 1976 to 1977. He also held the position of Counsel for the Development Bank of Japan's Research Institute of Capital Formation (RICF) from 1968 until his passing.[6]

Contributions

Uzawa initiated the field of mathematical economics in postwar days and formulated the growth theory of neoclassical economics. This is reflected in the Uzawa–Lucas model, the Uzawa iteration, the Uzawa condition, and Uzawa's Theorem, among others.

In his 1962 paper,[7] Uzawa proved that the two of Walrasian equilibrium and Brouwer's fixed-point theorem are equivalent.

His 1965 model in which technical change is a result of macroeconomic investment was an early approach to endogenous growth theory. In these models, investments in R&D or education are chosen and have the effect of raising future economic growth rates.

Recognition

Bibliography

Books

  • Arrow, Kenneth J.; Hurwicz, Leonid; Uzawa, Hirofumi (1958). Studies in linear and non-linear programming. Stanford mathematical studies in the social sciences. Vol. 2. Redwood City, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Stiglitz, Joseph E.; Uzawa, Hirofumi (1969). Readings in the modern theory of economic growth. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262190558.
  • Uzawa, Hirofumi (1989). Preference, Production and Capital: Selected Papers of Hirofumi Uzawa. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521361743.
  • Uzawa, Hirofumi (1989). Optimality, Equilibrium, and Growth: Selected Papers of Hirofumi Uzawa. Hongō, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan: University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 978-4130470414.
  • Uzawa, Hirofumi (2003). Economic Theory and Global Warming. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521823869.
  • Uzawa, Hirofumi (2005). Economic Analysis of Social Common Capital. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521847889.

Chapters in books

Selected journal articles

Working Papers

References

  1. ^ "下村治博士・宇沢弘文先生について | 研究所案内 | 設備投資研究所 | 日本政策投資銀行（DBJ）". www.dbj.jp. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  2. ^ a b c "2009 Blue Planet Prize Commemorative Lectures" (PDF). The Asahi Glass Foundation. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  3. ^ 宇沢, 弘文 (1962). CiNii Dissertations - レオン・ワルラスの一般均衡理論に関する諸研究 (PhD Thesis). CiNii. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Leading Japanese economist Hirofumi Uzawa dies at 86". Asahi Shimbun. 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Joseph E. Stiglitz: The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2001". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  6. ^ "下村治博士・宇沢弘文先生について | 研究所案内 | 設備投資研究所 | 日本政策投資銀行（Dbj）".
  7. ^ Durlauf, Steven N.; Blume, Lawrence, eds. (2008). The new Palgrave dictionary of economics (2nd ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 608. ISBN 9780333786765. OCLC 181424188.

Further reading