James Tobin is the most prominent American Keynesian, not only because he refused to join the mass conversion to the monetarist faith, but also because he consistently defended his conviction that the original Keynesian theory of determining national income can be expanded and updated in such a way that it is useful to address the macroeconomic problems of the 1980s and 90s.
His groundbreaking theoretical work on the percentage-sensitive demand for money, his empirical studies of consumption and savings, his analysis of the influence of financial variables on spending decisions, his efforts to embed money and business cycles in economic growth models, his sharp criticism of the theoretical basis of monetarism Milton Friedman and his defense of demand management, contrary to the views of the proponents of the "new classical macroeconomics", earned him the 1981 Nobel Prize.
Biography.
In 1939, James Tobin graduated with honors from Harvard College.
In 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he entered the Navy and underwent three months of training, as a result of which he was awarded an officer rank.
After the end of the war, Tobin continued his studies at Harvard University, in 1947 he received his Ph.D. and taught there from 1946 to 1950. Since 1950 he taught at Yale University.
Since 1955, after the move of the Coles Commission to Yale and its transformation into a Foundation, he has been actively involved in the work of this research center, holding the posts of director in 1955-1961 and 1964-1965 [10]. In 1958-1960 he was a member of the executive committee of the American Economic Association.
From 1961 to 1962 he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President John F. Kennedy.
Scientific creativity
He has authored and co-authored 16 books and over 400 articles. Suggested "Tobin coefficient". Criticized the monetary policy of Ronald Reagan.
In 1992 he signed a "Warning to Humanity".
Tobin tax
Among the general public, Tobin became famous for his proposal, made back in the early 1970s, that if a tax on foreign exchange transactions were introduced, then even if it were only 0.1% -0.25%, this could sharply limit cross-border currency speculation, making most of them unprofitable and reducing their harm, especially for developing countries.
According to Tobin, this tax would bring in at least $ 150 billion a year, which he proposed to be divided between the International Monetary Fund and national banks.
As a result of the European debt crisis, the EU began to look for additional sources of income, and as one of them, France and Germany are proposing the Tobin tax in a broad sense as a tax on financial transactions. This bill met with resistance from the UK, whose prime minister threatened to veto it .
Achievements of D. Tobin in science:
1955 - John Bates Clark Medal;
1972 - Member of the US National Academy of Sciences;
1981 - Nobel Prize in Economics "For the analysis of the state of financial markets and their influence on decision-making policy in the area of spending, on the situation with unemployment, production and prices";
1984 - Corresponding Member of the British Academy;
1988 - Order of the Sacred Treasure Class 1;
1990 - Adam Smith Award;
List of references
1. J. Tobin. Му Evolution as an Economist, в кн. W. Breit and R. W. Spencer (eds), Lives of the Laureates: Ten Nobel Economists (MIT Press, 1990).
2. D. D. Purvis. James Tobin’s Contribution to Economics, в кн. H. W. Spiegel and W. J. Samuels (eds), Contemporary Economists in Perspective, vol. 1 (JAI Press, 1984).
3. James Tobin. Liquidity Preference as a Behavior in Relation to Risk (English) (Pdf).