KUZNETSOV (Kuznets), Simon

April 30, 1901, Mr.. - July 10, 1985
American scientist Simon Smith Kuznets was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. It was the middle of three sons of Abraham and Pauline (nee Friedman) Blacksmith. When the boy was 6 years old, his father, a trader in furs, went to the United States, intending to call back and his family as soon as he settled. However, the First World War, which began in 1914, and the subsequent Russian revolution destroyed these plans. Meanwhile, the son attended a local school, where he began to study economics.
Only in 1922. K. and his younger brother Solomon were able to come to his father in New York. All summer the brothers themselves learned English, and the fall of that year to. attended Columbia University. The following year he received a bachelor's degree, and in 1924. Master's degree in economics. His studies at Columbia University, he continued under the leadership of economist Uisli Mitchell, and their collaboration continued for a long time after the completion of his studies. The skeptical attitude Mitchell to deductive theory as the basis of economic science and his faith in the successful development of the economy as an empirical science have helped to. develop their own beliefs. In 1926, Mr.. K. received his doctorate with a thesis entitled 'cyclical: retail and wholesale. United States, 1919 ... 1925 "(" Cyclical Fluctuations: Retail and Wholesale Trade, United States, 1919 ... 1925 "). In this work, prepared under the guidance of Mitchell, reflected their common desire to understand the economic behavior through the accumulation of statistical information and the discovery of empirical regularities of economic development.
. After completing his studies thesis, K
. one and a half years was a Research Fellow of the Council for Research in Social Sciences (SISN). This work culminated in the publication in 1930. book 'The Hundred Years dynamics of production and prices' ( "Secular Movements in Production and Prices"). In 1927, Mr.. Mitchell persuaded to. become a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), he soon headed a program to study the national income. Work to. in the NBER to calculate the national income was his biggest contribution to economic science. He was the first scientist who has studied the interaction between economic fluctuations and long-term economic growth.
Working in NBER, K. Methods for determination of national income (the amount of manufactured goods and services) of the United States, although he was not the first scientist, attempted to carry out such calculations. Even in 1696, Mr.. Gregory King, attempted to determine the level of welfare of the UK by budgeting for 'national income' of this country. In 1921 and 1922. NBER published estimates of national income of the United States for 1909 ... 1918. Compiled by U. King and Oswald Knautom. The first report to. National Income in the U.S. 'National Income, 1929 ... 1932 "(" National Income, 1929 - 1932) was published in 1934. Ministry of Commerce of the United States. Then followed a series of publications NBER, . including the 'National income and capital formation, . 1919 - 1935 "(" National Income and Capital Formation, . 1919 ... 1935 ", . 1937), . 'Commodity flow and capital formation' ( "Commodity Flow and Capital Formation", . 1938), . two-volume 'National income and its structure, . 1919 ... 1938 "(" National Income and Its Composition, . 1919 - 1938 ", . 1941), . well as the most accessible work 'national income: a brief conclusion' ( "National Income: A Summary of Findings", . 1946).,
. Contribution to
. in the development of methods for calculating national income is based on a single theoretical concept of interdependence between the calculated volume of national output in any year, and a certain level of wealth, . corresponding to this volume,
. He carefully examined the relationship between wealth and income in determining such disputed empirical questions, . as a contribution to income-generating activities, . outside markets, . and the change in volume production of various products, . not yet received the valuation,
. He studied the state of the public sector and striving for consistency in the processing of data on the movement of intermediate goods. He also clarified the basic general idea of the gross and net national product, and also developed methods of their calculation.
In a study of national income to. sought to, . what he called the analytical description of economic development with the use of the research process, . which seemed to him as a movement 'from the measurement through the assessment, . further through the classification, . through explanation to the construction of the theory ',
. With impeccable logic, bold judgments and tireless thorough recheck he drew from a broad range of data base to build a clear and coherent picture of production and income. In the field of national income in many countries, he was a pioneer.
To. also provided the statistical basis for the Keynesian approach to macroeconomics. Applying the 'double counting' of national income, it measures the national income from two positions. First, it calculates an indicator such as aggregate demand, according to Keynes (the sum of the cost of consumer goods and services, investment and government expenditure). He then calculated the rate of total income from the supply side: the sum of wages, profits and rents. Thus, his method of calculating national income filled empirical content Keynesian definition of political problems. Although K. described and discussed the development trends, he did not make predictions, which was recognized in the opinion of many, a wise decision.
To. maintained contact with NBER, even becoming in 1931. Professor of Economics and Statistics at the University of Pennsylvania and later as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Planning and Statistics under the Ministry of Military Industry (1944 ... 1946). In 40-ies. He continued the retrospective assessment of its estimates of national income. In this paper, 'National Product since 1869 "(" National Product Since 1869 ", 1946) he published historical data on the growth of national income for the 70-year period. In 1949, Mr.. He became chairman of the Committee on economic growth in the SISN, where he headed a comparative study of national income over a certain period for various countries. The implementation of this research is assisted by a group of graduate students and other researchers from the SISN and Johns Hopkins University, where he was Professor of Political Economy from 1954 to 1960 and from Harvard University, where in 1960. He became a professor of economics.
. The results of this comparative study were published in a series of 10 substantive articles, entitled 'Quantitative aspects of the economic growth of nations' ( "Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations") in the journal 'Economic development and cultural exchanges' ( "Economic Development and Cultural Change ") in the period from October 1956,
. January 1967. K. also published many of the findings to the works 'modern economic growth' ( "Modern Economic Growth", 1966) and 'Economic growth of nations' ( "Economic Growth of Nations", 1971).
. These studies have broad historical perspective, the process of economic growth have identified a number of empirical regularities, especially the United States, and then to other countries
. For example, were established long waves in economic growth in some countries (the so-called 'Kuznets cycles') - 20-year periods of alternating fast and slow growth and technological progress, population and national income. In his last major work of the 'Growth and structural change' ( "Growth and Structural Shifts"), published in 1979, K. regarded the development of Taiwan since 1895, Mr.. He pointed out that the rapid growth (10% per year) means a long destructive process leading to structural shifts in the economy and the accompanying institutional changes, as well as in working and living conditions. As in his earlier works, K. Emphasizes the importance of the demographic changes, in the case of Taiwan vivid example of such changes is a rapid decrease in fertility.
Most of his works to. considered the role of savings and investment, as well as the contribution of capital and technological change in the process of economic growth. He raised these issues in the 'Capital and the U.S. economy' ( "Capital and American Economy", 1961) and showed that over a long period of stability of the process of accumulation determines the amount of investment in the economy. He also developed a system to measure the marginal capital -. By showing that the relative amount of equity usually increases during the economic development, but the share of equity in earnings decreases with time, K. noted that the contribution of capital to the growth of national production is relatively small. K. first noted the crucial role of 'human' capital, and showed, . that changes in technology, . reallocation of labor between productive and less productive sectors, . as well as improving the quality of labor employed account for most cases of increasing productivity.,
. K
. attentively studied the relationship between economic growth and the distribution of profits. In the works 'participation groups with the highest incomes in the accumulation of profit' ( "Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income Saving", 1953) and 'modern economic growth' ( "Modern Economic Growth" 1966) to. showed that the increase in the percentage of equity capital in total output and reduce return on investment increases the labor share in national income. Collecting data on the income of ten countries, he proved that often the personal income distribution tends to even out over time. In addition, he suggested that 'the law of the Kuznets' for the economy of developing countries: in the first 10 years of development, income inequality will rise sharply, and then will be a tendency to equalize. Taiwan is a prime example of such trends.
In 1971, Mr.. K. was awarded the Nobel Memorial Award in Economics 'for empirically grounded interpretation of economic growth, which led to a new, deeper understanding of how economic and social structure and process of development'. In a speech at the presentation Bertil Ulin, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said:
'K. permanently oriented themselves to the fact that a quantitative definition of economic variables, relating probably to the elucidation of processes of social change. He operated on a truly vast statistical material, which are so deep and thorough analysis that this material sparkled thought and shed entirely new light on the problem of economic growth '.
In 1971, Mr.. K. received the title of honorary professor at Harvard University.
In 1929, Mr.. K. married Edith Handler, is a permanent full-time economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research. They have a son and daughter. All of their colleagues celebrated their remarkable modesty, his family are passionately fond of classical music. K. died in Cambridge, July 10, 1985, Mr.. Among his many honorary awards will mention only awarding him an honorary degree from the universities of Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Pennsylvania and the Jewish