William J. Baumol (1922 -)

Profesor emérito de Princeton University y del C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, de New York University, el cual dirige. Nos llevaría mucho espacio hablar de las contribuciones de éste neoyorquino a la Economía. Por eso, aquí nos centramos en dos áreas que han sido especial objeto de atención: el modelo de Tobin-Baumol y su teoría del crecimiento.

Ideado por James Tobin y reformulado por William Baumol, el modelo matemático de Tobin-Baumol es el ejemplo por excelencia que nos explica la demanda de dinero, con el fin de intercambiarlo por bienes y servicios, teniendo en cuenta a la vez un motivo “especulación”.

Señalan éstos autores que mantener dinero en líquido (es decir, en efectivo), tiene un coste de oportunidad, consistente en el monto de intereses que se deja de ganar por no tenerlo colocado en activos. Pero también un aspecto positivo, ya que tener dinero líquido nos permite hacer frente a cualquier transacción de una manera rápida.

Suponiendo que un señor recibe sus ingresos en la cuenta corriente de un banco, cada vez que quiera retirar dinero tendrá unos costes de tiempo empleado y desplazamiento. Por eso no nos debe extrañar que a este modelo se le conozca como... “El Modelo del Coste de la Suela de los Zapatos”.

Minimizando una expresión matemática que considera todos éstos costes, se obtiene el número óptimo de veces que al señor le interesa ir al Banco y el saldo promedio de demanda de dinero óptimo.

Esta demanda será mayor cuanto:

• Mayores sean los costes de acudir al Banco.

• Mayores sean los pagos que el agente prevé que tendrá que realizar.

• Menores sean los tipos de interés que se pueden obtener colocando el dinero.

Y el número de veces óptimo que el señor va al Banco depende inversamente de la demanda óptima de dinero.

La otra aportación esencial de Baumol es explicar cómo se genera el crecimiento económico. Apoyándose en autores clásicos, Baumol explica el crecimiento como efecto de la innovación, considerando al empresario una figura clave cuya misión principal no es inventar y ni siquiera la asunción de riesgo, que hoy día correspondería al socio capitalista, sino saber atender las necesidades de los demandantes de forma rápida y adecuada.

El lector interesado en Baumol, también debería consultar sus contribuciones matemáticas, muy interesantes, acerca de la teoría de juegos y programación lineal.

 

Currículum Vitae

(Extraído y adaptado de www.econ.nyu.edu/dept/vitae/baumol.htm)

Fecha de Nacimiento: 26 de febrero de 1922
Lugar de Nacimiento: New York, NY
Estado Civil: Casado, dos hijos

ESTUDIOS:
BSS College of the City of New York, 1942
Ph.D University of London, 1949
1942-1943 y 1946: Junior Economist, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
1947-49: Assistant Lecturer, London School of Economics
1949-92: Professor of Economics, Princeton University
1992-current: Senior Research Economist and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University
1971-current: Professor of Economics and Director, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University

DISTINCIONES Y HONORES:
1953 Fellow, Econometric Society
1957-58 Guggenheim Fellow
1960-70 Trustee, Rider College
1965 Honorary LL.D, Rider College (Trustee Emeritus)
1965-66 Ford Faculty Fellowship
1970 Honorary Fellow, London School of Economics
1971 Honorary Doctorate, Stockholm School of Economics
1973 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Knox College
1973 Honorary Doctorate, University of Basel
1975 John R. Commons Award, Omicron Delta Epsilon
1975 Townsend Harris Medal, Alumni Association of the City College of New York
1982 Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association
1984 Distinguished Member, Economic Association of Puerto Rico
1986 Winner, Assoc. of American Publishers Award for Best Book in Business, Management and Economics, Superfairness: Applications and Theory
1987 Recipient, Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy
1988 Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University
1989 Winner, Assoc. of Am. Publishers Annual Awards for Excellence in Publishing, Honorable Mention in Social Sciences, Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View
1992 Recipient, First Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences Award, New York University
1996 Honorary Degree, University of Limburg, Maastricht, Holland
1996 Honorary Professorship, University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 

ACTIVIDAD PROFESIONAL:
Member, Committee to set up the Don Patinkin School of Economics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Chairman, Harvard University Visiting Committee, Dept. of Economics, 1995
Member, American Philosophical Society
Member, Advisory Board, Insurance Information Institute Press
Chairman, Overseers' Committee to Visit the Dept. of Economics, Harvard University
Member, Advisory Board, Journal of Economic Perspectives
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Cultural Economics
Principal Investigator, Students at Risk Comm., Inst. for Education & Social Policy
Member, Advisory Committee, World Resources Institute (founding member)
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Supreme Court Economic Review
Member, Board of Trustees, Joint Council on Economic Education
Member, Advisory Committee, Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University
Member, Board of Directors, Theater Development Fund
Member, National Science Foundation review panel for Science and Technology Research Centers
Member, Advisory Board, Fishman-Davidson Center for the Study of the Service Sector, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Correspondent, Committee on Human Rights, National Academy of Sciences
Member, Committee on the National Institute for the Environment, National Academy of Sciences
Member, Board of Consultants, Economia, Revista Quadrimestral (Portugal)
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member, Executive Committee, V.P. (1966-67), American Economic Association
Past President, American Economic Association (1981), Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (1979), Eastern Economic Association (1978-79), Atlantic Economic Society (1985)
Past Chairman and Member, Economic Policy Council, State of New Jersey (1967-75)
Past Vice President, American Association of University Professors
Past Vice President, AAUP (1968-70) and Chairman, Committee on Economic Status of the Profession (1962-70)
Various times on Boards of Editors for American Economic Review, Kyklos, Journal of Economic Literature, Management Science, Economic Notes (Italy), Journal of Economic Education, Impresa e Concorrenza (Italy) THESIS: Theory and History of Economic and Social Institutions and Structures (USSR)
Director, Consultants in Industry Economics, Inc.
Frequent consultant to government and industry, in U.S. and many other countries.

Libros y artículos de William J. Baumol


1946
"Community Indifference", RES

1949
"A Community Indifference Map: A construction", RES.
"A Formalization of Mr. Harrod's Model", EJ.

1950
"The Analogy between Producer and Consumer Equilibrium Analysis", con Helen Makower, Economica.

1951
Economic Dynamics, con R. Turvey. Otras ediciones: 1959, 1970

1952
"The Transaction Demand for Cash: An inventory-theoretic approach", QJE.
"The Classical Monetary Theory: The outcome of the discussion", con G.S. Becker, Economica.
Welfare Economics and the Theory of the State. Otras ediciones: 1965

1953
"Firms with Limited Money Capital", Kyklos.

1954
Economic Processes and Policies, con L.V. Chandler.

1955
"More on the Multiplier Effect of a Balanced Budgt", con M.H. Preston, AER.

1956
"Acceleration without Magnification", AER.
"Variety in Retailing", with E.A. Ide, Management Science.

1957
"Speculation, Profitability and Stability", REStat.

1958
"Activity Analysis in One Lesson", AER.
"On the Theory of Oligopoly", Economica.
"Topology of Second Order Linear Difference Equations with Constant Coefficients", Econometrica.
"The Cardinal Utility which is Ordinal", EJ.

1959
Business Behavior, Value and Growth. Otras ediciones: 1966

1960
"Integer Programming and Pricing", con R.E. Gomory, Econometrica.

1961
Economic Theory and Operations Analysis. Otras ediciones: 1965, 1972, 1976
"What Can Economic Theory Contribute to Managerial Economics?", AER.
"Pitfalls in Contracyclical Policies: Some tools and results", REStat.
What Price Economic Growth?, con Klaus Knorr

1962
"The Theory of Expansion of the Firm", AER.
"Stocks, Flows and Monetary Theory", QJE.

1963
"An Expected Gain-Confidence Limit Criterion for Portfolio Selection", Management Science.

1964
"Rules of Thumb and Optimally Imperfect Decisions", AER.
"Decomposition, Pricing for Decentralization and External Economics", con T.Fabian, Management Science.

1965
"On the Performing Arts: the anatomy of their economic problems", con W.G. Bowen, AER.
"Investment and Discount Rates Under Capital Rationing", con R.E.Quandt, EJ.
"Informed Judgement, Rigorous Theory and Public Policy", Southern EJ.
The Stock Market and Economic Efficiency.

1966
Performing Arts: the economic dilemma, con W.G. Bowen.
"The Ricardo Effect in Point-Input, Point-Output Case", Essays in Mathematical Economics in Honor of Oskar Morgenstern.

1967
"Macroeconomics of Unbalanced Growth: The anatomy of urban crisis", AER.
"Calculation of Optimal Product and Retailer Characteristics", JPE.
"The Firm's Optimal Debt-Equity Combination and the Cost of Capital", con B.G. Malkiel, QJE.
"Error Produced by Linearization in Mathematical Programming", con R. Bushnell, Econometrica.

1968
"The Dual of Nonlinear Programming and its Economic Interpretation", con M.L.Balinski, RES.
"Entrepreneurship in Economic Theory", AER.
"On the Social Rate of Discount", AER.
Precursors in Mathematical Economics: An Anthology , con S.M. Goldfeld

1969
"On the Discount Rate for Public Projects", Analysis and Evaluation of Public Expenditures.

1970
"Input Choices and Rate-of-Return Regulation: An overview of the discussion", con A.K.Klevorick, Bell JE.
"Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing", con D.F. Bradford, AER.
Portfolio Theory: The Selection of Asset Combinations

1971
"The Economics of Athenian Drama", QJE.
Environmental protection, International Spillovers and Trade.

1972
"On the Economics of the Theatre in Renaissance London" con Mary Oates, Swedish JE.
"The Dynamics of Urban Problems and its Policy Implications", en Preston and Corry, editors, Essays in Honor of Lord Robbins.
"Taxation and the Control of Externalities", AER.
"Detrimental Externalities and Non-Convexity of the Production Set", con D.F. Bradford, Economica.

1973
Economics of Academic Libraries, con M. Marcus

1974
"The Transformation of Values: What Marx `Really' Meant”, JEL.

1975
The Theory of Environmental Policy, con W.E.Oates. Otras ediciones: 1988

1976
Selected Economic Writings of William J. Baumol, con E.E. Bailey, ed.

1979
Economics, Environmental Policy and Quality of LIfe, con W.E.Oates y S.A. Batey Blackman.
Economics: Principles and Policy, con A.S. Blinder. Otras ediciones: 1982, 1985, 1987, 1991 y 1994

1980
Public and Private Enterprise in a Mixed Economy (editor)

1982
Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, con J.C. Panzar y R.D. Wilig. Otras ediciones: 1987

1984
Inflation and the Performing Arts (editor con H. Baumol)

1985
Productivity Growth and U.S. Competitiveness (editor con K. McLennan)

1986
Microetheory: Applications and origins
Superfairness: Application and theory, con D. Fischer

1989
"The Optimal Cash Balance Proposition: Maurice Allais' Priority", con J. Tobin, JEL
The Information Economy and the Implications of Unbalanced Growth, con L. Osberg y E.N. Wolff
Productivity and American Leadership: The long view, con S.A. Batey Blackman y E.N. Wolff.

1990
The Economics of Mutual Fund Markets: Competition vs. Regulation , con S.M. Goldfeld, L.A. Gordon y M.F. Koehn

1992
Perfect Markets and Easy Virtue: Business ethics and the invisible hand, con S.A. Batey Blackman

1993
Entrepreneurship, Management and the Structure of Profit.

1994
Toward Competition in Local Telephony, con Gregory Sidak
Convergence of Productivity: Cross-National Studies and Historical Evidence (ed. con R.R. Nelson & E.N. Wolff)

1995
Transmission Pricing and Stranded Costs in the Electric Power Industry, con Gregory Sidak
Assessing Educational Practices: The Contribution of Economics (ed. con W.E. Becker)

1996
Microeconomics: Principles and Policy (ed. con A.S. Blinder)