Ester Boserup
| Ester Boserup | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Ester Børgesen 18 May 1910 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Died | 24 September 1999 (aged 89) |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Influenced |
Irene Tinker Amartya Sen James C. Scott |
Ester Boserup (May 18, 1910 – September 24, 1999), was a Danish economist. She studied economic and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and wrote seminal books on agrarian change and the role of women in development.
Boserup is known for her theory of agricultural intensification, also known as Boserup's theory, which posits that population change drives the intensity of agricultural production. Her position countered the Malthusian theory that agricultural methods determine population via limits on food supply. Her best-known book on this subjectThe Conditions of Agricultural Growth, presents a "dynamic analysis embracing all types of primitive agriculture." (Boserup, E. 1965. p 13) A major point of her book is that "necessity is the mother of invention".
Her other major work, Women's Role in Economic Development, advanced the view that women's role in economic development was insufficiently valued.
It was her great belief that humanity would always find a way and was quoted in saying "The power of ingenuity would always outmatch that of demand". She also influenced the debate on the women in workforce and human development, and the possibility of better opportunities of work and education for women.
Born Ester Børgesen in Copenhagen, she was the only daughter of a Danish engineer, who died when she was two years old and the family was almost destitute for several years. Then, "encouraged by her mother and aware of her limited prospects without a good degree," she studied economic and agricultural development at the University of Copenhagen from 1929, and obtained her degree in theoretical economics in 1935.
After graduation Boserup worked for the Danish government from 1935–1947, right through the Nazi occupation in WWII, as head of its planning office, on studies including trade and the effects of subsidies. She made almost no reference to conflicts between family and work during her lifetime. The family moved to Geneva in 1947 to work with the UN Economic Commission of Europe (ECE). In 1957, she and Mogens worked in India in a research project run by Gunnar Myrdal. For the rest of her life she worked as a consultant and writer, based in Copenhagen and then near Geneva when her husband died in 1980.
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