- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Nurkse, Ragnar, 1907-1959.
- Title:
- Ragnar Nurkse Papers
- Repository:
- Public Policy Papers
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/mw22v546k
- Dates:
- 1930-1960 (mostly 1945-1959)
- Size:
- 16 boxes
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-16
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Ragnar Nurkse (1907-1959) was a leading scholar of international economics, international finance and economic development. He served in the League of Nations from 1934 to 1945 and taught at Columbia University from 1945 to 1958. Nurse's papers document his scholarly work at both the League of Nations and Columbia, and includes his research notes, drafts of articles and books, research materials and a small amount of correspondence.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
Nurse's papers document his scholarly work at both the League of Nations and Columbia, and includes his research notes, drafts of articles and books, research materials and a small amount of correspondence. The subjects of the papers cover the broad range of Nurkse's research interests, especially capital movements, international investments and international trade.
Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.
- Arrangement
The Papers have been arranged in three series:
- Collection Creator Biography:
Nurkse, Ragnar, 1907-1959.
Ragnar Nurkse (1907-1959) was a leading scholar of international economics, international finance and economic development. He served in the League of Nations from 1934 to 1945 and taught at Columbia University from 1945 to 1958.
Ragnar Nurkse was born October 5, 1907 in Tallinn, Estonia. His family immigrated to Canada in the early 1930s. He married Harriet Berger of Englewood, New Jersey in 1946 and they had two sons, Dennis and Peter. Nurkse received his education at the University of Tartu, Estonia, from 1926 to 1928 and then the University of Edinburgh. He graduated from Edinburgh with a first class degree in Economics, under Professor F.W. Ogilvie, in 1932. He also earned a Carnegie Fellowship to study at the University of Vienna from 1932 to 1934. While in Vienna, he published his first economics article, entitled "Cause and Effects of Capital Movements," in German. His first book, which was on the same subject and also in German, was published in 1935.
He served in the Financial Section and Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations from 1934 to 1945. Nurkse was the financial analyst and was largely responsible for the annual Monetary Review. He was also involved with the publication of The Review of World Trade, World Economic Surveys, and the report of the Delegation on Economic Depressions entitled "The Transition from War to Peace Economy." League of Nations reports are typically published anonymously, but Nurkse is the author of The International Currency Experience, 1944 (except for Chapter VI), a classic in the field of international finance, and also wrote the first analytical section of The Course and Control of Inflation, 1946.
In 1945, Nurkse was offered a position in the International Monetary Fund, but he chose instead to accept an appointment at Columbia University in New York City. He was a Visiting Lecturer in Economics at Columbia University from 1945 to 1946, taught at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1946 to 1947, and then returned to Columbia as an Associate Professor of Economics in 1947. In 1949, he was promoted to Full Professor of Economics, a position which he held until his death in 1959. He taught international economics, economic development, and money and banking.
Nurkse was an important figure in economic development theory as an early advocate of the "balanced growth" doctrine. He also continued to build on the Rostenstein-Rodan Theory of the Big Push and anticipated portions of the Lewis doctrine, emphasizing the role of savings and capital formation in economic development. Among his major works are International Currency Experience: Lessons of the Interwar Period (1944), Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium (1945), and Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries (1953).
He spent a sabbatical at Nuffield College, Oxford from 1954 to 1955, and from 1958 to 1959 he studied economic development in Geneva and lectured around the world. The majority of his later writings, on problems of economic development and international trade, were derived from lectures given at Cairo, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, and Stockholm, as well as his Columbia lecture courses.
In 1958, Ragnar Nurkse was offered a Professorship of Economics and the Director of International Finance Section position at Princeton University. He accepted, seeking to work in a smaller city. However, when Nurkse returned to Geneva in the spring of 1959, after delivering the Wicksell Memorial Lectures in Stockholm, he died suddenly at the age of 52. At the time of his death, he was working on a comprehensive book on trade and development.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
This collection was acquired in July 1995 and officially donated by Dennis Nurkse, the son of Ragnar Nurkse, in April 1998 . Additions were received from Peter Nurkse, son of Ragnar Nurkse, in April 2007 and October 2007 .
- Appraisal
The materials separated from the collection include his Columbia faculty papers, League of Nations and other publications, early drafts of Nurkse's papers, and duplicate materials. Publications were removed to be cataloged separately. The Columbia faculty papers were transferred to the Columbia University Archives in November 2005.
- Sponsorship:
These papers were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson in 2005. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in November 2005.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. For quotations that are fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For those few instances beyond fair use, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to Princeton University and researchers are free to move forward with use of materials without anything further from Mudd Library. For materials not created by the donor, where the copyright is not held by the University, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold the copyright and obtaining approval from them. In these instances, researchers do not need anything further from the Mudd Library to move forward with their use. If you have a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.
- Credit this material:
Ragnar Nurkse Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/mw22v546k
- Location:
-
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library65 Olden StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540, USA
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-16
Find More
- Bibliography
Materials from the Biography series of the Ragnar Nurkse Papers was consulted during the preparation of the biographical note.
- Subject Terms:
- Economic development.
Economics -- 20th century.
Economists.
International finance.
International trade. - Names:
- League of Nations.
Nurkse, Ragnar, 1907-1959.