Tibor Scitovsky
Tibor de Scitovsky also known as
Tibor Scitovsky, (
1910-
2002) was an
American economist. He was Associate Professor and Professor of Economics at
Stanford University from
1946 through
1958 and Eberle Professor of Economics from
1970 until his retirement in
1976, when he became Professor Emeritus. In honor of his deep contributions to economic analysis, he was elected Distinguished Fellow of the
American Economic Association, Fellow of the
Royal Economic Society, member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Corresponding Fellow of the
British Academy.
Scitovsky was born in
Hungary in
1910. As the
de indicates, he was born into a noble family; his father held the post of Foreign Minister. He was educated at the
University of Budapest (from which he held an undergraduate degree in law),
University of Cambridge, and the
London School of Economics. He came to the
United States on a traveling fellowship. He enlisted in the
United States Army, in counter-intelligence.
After a spell at
Stanford he left for
Berkeley in
1958 and remained there until
1968, although he was on leave to do research at the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Starting as early as
1959, he began an examination of the nature of human well-being from a broader viewpoint than is customary among economists. In particular, he drew on the arts as an example of the nature of human aspiration. His
1976 book,
The Joyless Economy, remains a major critique of modern and especially economic values.
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Obituary
