Ragnar Nurkse facts for kids

Ragnar Nurkse (October 5, 1907 – May 6, 1959) was an Estonian economist. He was important in the areas of international money and how countries grow economically. He is known for his ideas on how poor countries can develop.

The Life of Ragnar Nurkse

Ragnar Nurkse was born in a village called Käru in what is now Estonia. His father worked hard to become a manager, and his mother was from a Swedish-Estonian family.

He went to a top school in Tallinn, Estonia, and finished with high honors in 1928. He then studied economics at the University of Tartu and the University of Edinburgh. He earned a top degree in economics in 1932. Later, he continued his studies at the University of Vienna from 1932 to 1934.

Working for the League of Nations

From 1934 to 1945, Nurkse worked for the League of Nations. This was an organization that tried to keep peace and cooperation between countries. He was a financial expert there. He helped write important reports about money and world trade. He also worked on a report about how countries could change their economies after a war.

Teaching at Universities

In 1945, Nurkse started teaching at Columbia University in New York City. He became a full professor of economics in 1949. He taught there for many years. He also spent time teaching and studying at the University of Oxford in England. In 1958, he accepted a job at Princeton University.

Sadly, Ragnar Nurkse died suddenly in 1959 at the age of 52. He was near Lake Geneva in Switzerland at the time.

Remembering His Work

In 2007, on his 100th birthday, Estonia honored Nurkse with a special postage stamp. A stone monument was also put up near his birthplace. The Bank of Estonia and Tallinn University of Technology also started special events to remember him. A teaching position at Columbia University is named after him.

Ragnar Nurkse's Economic Ideas

Ragnar Nurkse is seen as one of the main thinkers in early development economics. This field studies how poor countries can become richer.

The "Big Push" Idea

Nurkse, along with other economists, believed in something called the "theory of the big push". This idea says that for a poor country to grow, it needs many different industries to grow at the same time. It's like pushing many things forward all at once. This helps create a market for goods and services.

The Vicious Circle of Poverty

He also talked about the "vicious circle of poverty". This means that poor countries stay poor because they don't have enough savings. Without savings, they can't invest in new businesses or technologies. This lack of investment keeps them from growing, which means they stay poor. Nurkse believed that breaking this circle was key to development.

Important Books

Some of his most important books include:

• International Currency Experience: Lessons of the Interwar Period (1944): This book helped set up the Bretton Woods system, which was a system for managing money between countries after World War II.
• Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium (1945)
• Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries (1953): This book explained his ideas about how poor countries could get the money they needed to grow.

Private Life

Ragnar Nurkse married Harriet Berger in 1946. They had two sons. One of their sons, Dennis Nurkse, became a well-known poet.