Sir Roy Harrod | |
---|---|
Born |
London |
13 February 1900
Died | 8 March 1978 Holt, Norfolk |
(aged 78)
Nationality | British |
School or tradition |
Post-Keynesian economics |
Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Influences | John Maynard Keynes, John A. Hobson |
Influenced | Athanasios Asimakopulos |
Contributions | Harrod–Domar model |
Sir Henry Roy Forbes Harrod (13 February 1900 – 8 March 1978) was an English economist. He is best known for writing The Life of John Maynard Keynes (1951) and for the development of the Harrod–Domar model, which he and Evsey Domar developed independently. He is also known for his International Economics, a former standard textbook, the first edition of which contained some observations and ruminations (wanting in subsequent editions) that would foreshadow theories developed independently by later scholars (such as the Balassa–Samuelson effect).
Born in London he attended St Paul's and then Westminster School. Harrod attended New College in Oxford on a history scholarship. After a brief period in the Artillery in 1918 he gained a first in "literae humaniores" in 1921, and a first in modern history the following year. Afterwards he spent some time in 1922 at King's College, Cambridge. It was there that he met and befriended Keynes.
After moving back to Oxford, he became a Student (i.e., Fellow) and Tutor in economics at Christ Church. He held the fellowship in modern history and economics until 1967. He remained in contact with Keynes until Keynes's death in 1946, and was later his biographer (1951). Harrod was additionally a Fellow at Nuffield College 1938 to 1947 and from 1954 to 1958.
During the Second World War, he was briefly in Winston Churchill's "S-branch" – a statistical section within the Admiralty.
At the 1945 General Election he stood as Liberal candidate for Huddersfield and finished third.
After retiring in 1967, he moved to Holt, Norfolk.
Interviewed for the book Authors take Sides on Vietnam, Harrod declared himself a supporter of the American military campaign in Indochina.