Hirofumi Uzawa

Hirofumi Uzawa (宇沢 弘文) was a Japanese economist.

Biography
Uzawa was born on July 21, 1928, in Yonago, Tottori to a farming family.

He attended the Tokyo First Middle School (currently the Hibiya High School ) and the First Higher School, Japan (now the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo). He graduated from the Mathematics Department of the University of Tokyo in 1951; he was a special research student from 1951 to 1953. At that time, he discovered the true nature of economics in the words of John Ruskin, “There is no wealth, but life.” which was quoted in the foreword to Tale of Poverty (貧乏物語) by Hajime Kawakami, and decided to study economics.

His paper on decentralized economic planning caught the eye of Kenneth Arrow at Stanford University. He went to study Economics at Stanford University in 1956 with Fulbright fellowship, and became a research assistant, then assistant professor in 1956, then assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1960, and then associate professor at Stanford in 1961. In 1962, he received a Ph.D. from Tohoku University. He became a professor at the University of Chicago in 1964, and a professor of University of Tokyo's Department of Economics in 1969. He also taught at Niigata University, Chuo University, and United Nations University. Joseph E. Stiglitz and George A. Akerlof did research under Uzawa at the University of Chicago and David Cass studied under Uzawa at Stanford University.

Uzawa was a senior fellow at the Research Center of Social Common Capital at Doshisha University. He held the position of the president of the Econometric Society from 1976 to 1977. He also held the position of Counsel for the Development Bank of Japan's Research Institute of Capital Formation (RICF) from 1968 until his passing.

Contributions
Uzawa initiated the field of mathematical economics in postwar days and formulated the growth theory of neoclassical economics. This is reflected in the Uzawa–Lucas model, the Uzawa iteration, the Uzawa condition, and Uzawa's Theorem, among others.

In his 1962 paper, Uzawa proved that the two of Walrasian equilibrium and Brouwer's fixed-point theorem are equivalent.

His 1965 model in which technical change is a result of macroeconomic investment was an early approach to endogenous growth theory. In these models, investments in R&D or education are chosen and have the effect of raising future economic growth rates.

Recognition

 * 1983 - Person of Cultural Merit
 * 1989 - Member of Japan Academy
 * 1995 - National Academy of Sciences Visiting Fellow
 * 1997 - Order of Culture
 * 2009 - Blue Planet Prize
 * Econometric Society Fellow (Lifetime)

Working Papers

 * Koopmans, Tjalling C.; Uzawa, Hirofumi (1982). "Constancy and Constant Differences of Price Elasticities of Demand," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 654, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.