Arthur Melvin Okun
American economist (1928–1980)
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Arthur Melvin "Art" Okun (November 28, 1928 – March 23, 1980) was an American economist.
November 28, 1928
Art Okun | |
|---|---|
| |
| 7th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers | |
| In office February 15, 1968 – January 20, 1969 | |
| President | Lyndon Johnson |
| Preceded by | Gardner Ackley |
| Succeeded by | Paul McCracken |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Arthur Melvin Okun November 28, 1928 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 1980 (aged 51) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Academic background | |
| Doctoral advisor | Arthur F. Burns |
| Influences | John Maynard Keynes |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Macroeconomics |
| School or tradition | Neo-Keynesian economics |
| Institutions | Yale University |
| Notable ideas | Okun's law Misery index |
Okun is known in particular for Okun's law, an observed relationship that states that for every 1% increase in the unemployment rate, a country's GDP will be roughly an additional 2.5% lower than its potential GDP. He is also known as the creator of the misery index, the analogy of the deadweight loss of taxation with a leaky bucket,[1] and for the conception of "the invisible handshake".[2][3]
Biography
Okun graduated from Columbia College in 1949 with the Albert Asher Green Memorial Prize for the highest GPA.[4] He went on to obtain a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia in 1956 before teaching at Yale University.[5]
He served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers between 1968 and 1969. Afterwards, he became a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1968 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[6]
He died on March 23, 1980, of a heart attack.[7]
Works
- Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1975)
- Prices and Quantities: A Macroeconomic Analysis, see here (1981) ISBN 0-8157-6480-4