Viner, Jacob

Viner, Jacob, 1892–1970, American economist, b. Montreal. He taught at the Univ. of Chicago (1919–46) and Princeton Univ. (1946–60). A specialist on the subject of international trade, Viner was an adviser on trade issues to the U.S. Treasury (1934–37)and the State Dept. (1943–52). Viner's work ranges from specialized writings on the theory of costs in The Long View and the Short (1931), in which he laid out the envelope cost curve, to such histories of economic thought as Studies in the Theory of International Trade (1937) and Essays on the Intellectual History of Economics (ed. by Douglas A. Irwin, 1991).

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Viner, Jacob (1892–1970) economist; born in Montreal, Canada. Educated in the U.S.A., he is known as a leading interwar price and trade theorist as well as a historian of economic thought. While teaching at the University of Chicago (1916–46), he also served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Treasury (1934–39), then moved to Princeton University where he remained until his retirement (1946–60).