Tobin, James

Tobin, James, 1918–2002, American economist, b. Champaign, Ill., Ph.D. Harvard, 1947. A professor at Yale Univ. from 1950 until his death, he was also an influential member (1961–62) of President Kennedy's Council of Economic Advisers. Tobin's work advanced the significant "portfolio theory," which holds that diversification of interests offers the best possibility of security for investors, and that investments should not always be based on highest rates of return. He also wrote on the process of information exchange between financial markets and "real" markets. Tobin was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1981.

---

Tobin, James (1918–  ) economist; born in Champaign, Ill. A professor at Yale University from 1955, he maintained an adamant belief in Keynesian economic theory. His work included interest-elasticity of monetary demands, consumer economics, and the incorporation of money and business cycles in growth models. He received the Nobel Prize in economics (1981).