Henry Schultz (September 4, 1893 – November 26, 1938) was an American
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and
statisticianStatisticians work with theoretical and applied statistics in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
, one of the founders of
econometricsEconometrics is concerned with the tasks of developing and applying quantitative or statistical methods to the study and elucidation of economic principles. Econometrics combines economic theory with statistics to analyze and test economic relationships...
.
Henry Schultz was born on September 4, 1893 in a Polish family in Szarkowszczyzna, the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now part of
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
). His family moved to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, where Henry completed his primary education, as well as undergraduate studies at the
College of the City of New YorkThe College of the City of New York is the former name of New York University's undergraduate college when the university was named "University of the City of New York"....
, receiving a BA in 1916. For graduate work, Henry Schultz enrolled at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, but had to interrupt studies in 1917 because of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Henry Schultz (September 4, 1893 – November 26, 1938) was an American
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and
statisticianStatisticians work with theoretical and applied statistics in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
, one of the founders of
econometricsEconometrics is concerned with the tasks of developing and applying quantitative or statistical methods to the study and elucidation of economic principles. Econometrics combines economic theory with statistics to analyze and test economic relationships...
.
Life
Henry Schultz was born on September 4, 1893 in a Polish family in Szarkowszczyzna, the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now part of
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
). His family moved to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, where Henry completed his primary education, as well as undergraduate studies at the
College of the City of New YorkThe College of the City of New York is the former name of New York University's undergraduate college when the university was named "University of the City of New York"....
, receiving a BA in 1916. For graduate work, Henry Schultz enrolled at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, but had to interrupt studies in 1917 because of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
. After the war he received a scholarship which enabled him to spend 1919 at the
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science, commonly referred to as the London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England....
and the
Galton LaboratoryThe Galton Laboratory, based at University College London, England, conducts research into human genetics. It was originally established in 1904, and became part of UCL's biology department in 1996....
of
University College LondonUniversity College London is a British university institution and a constituent college of the University of London, based primarily in Bloomsbury, London...
, where he had the opportunity to attend
Karl PearsonKarl Pearson FRS established the disciplineof mathematical statistics.In 1911 he founded the world's first university statistics department at University College London...
's lectures on statistics.
After returning to the US, in 1920 Schultz married to Bertha Greenstein. In the future years, the couple had two daughters, Ruth and Jean. Schultz continued studying for his doctoral degree at Columbia, while at the same time conducting statistical work for the War Trade Board, the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
and the
United States Department of LaborThe United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
. He was awarded a PhD in economics from Columbia in 1925 with a thesis on the estimation of
demand curveIn economics, the demand curve can be defined as the graph depicting the relationship between the price of a certain commodity, and the amount of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at that given price. It is a graphic representation of a demand schedule...
s written under the supervision of Henry L. Moore.
In 1926 Schultz went to the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
, where he spent the rest of his career teaching and doing research. In 1930 he was one of the sixteen founding members of the
Econometric SocietyThe Econometric Society, an International Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory in its Relation with Statistics and Mathematics was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
. Henry Schultz died on November 26, 1938, near
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
, in a tragic car accident that also killed his wife and his two daughters.
Work
Lead by his belief that economics needs rigorous quantitative study to become a science, Henry Schultz was one of the founders of mathematical and statistical economics. His research was centered around a large program dedicated to the theory and estimation of private
demandSupply and demand is an economic model based on price, utility and quantity in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers, and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and...
for goods functions, a project which started in the early 1920s, during his studies at the University of Chicago, and was completed shortly before his death with the publication of his highly influential book Schultz(1938).
Influences and legacy
Henry Schultz was the doctoral thesis advisor for several students at Chicago, notably 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics winner
Herbert SimonHerbert Alexander Simon was an American political scientist, economist and psychologist whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics, management, philosophy of science, sociology, and political science and was a professor, most...
and future Cowles Commission director
Theodore O. YntemaTheodore Otte Yntema was an American economist.Yntema graduated summa cum laude in 1921 from Hope College as valedictorian. He received his master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1922. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1929. Theodore O...
. Schultz also influenced
Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician and public intellectual, and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics...
, who was his student and, for a year, his research assistant.
Henry Schultz started a mathematical economics school at the University of Chicago which, after his tragic early death, was in danger to disappear. This prompted the University to invite the Cowles Commission, which had a research agenda focused on empirical economics, to move its headquarters there. As a result, the Commission moved to the University of Chicago in 1939 and Theodore O. Yntema, one of Schultz's students, was named as its new president.