Trevor Swan
| Trevor Swan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 January 1918 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 15 January 1989 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Institution | Australian National University |
| Field | Macroeconomics |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Contributions | Solow–Swan model |
| Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Trevor Winchester Swan (14 January 1918 – 15 January 1989) was an Australian economist. He is best known for his work on the Solow–Swan growth model, published simultaneously by American economist Robert Solow, for his work on integrating internal and external balance as represented by the Swan Diagram, and for pioneering work in macroeconomic modeling, which predated that of Lawrence Klein but remained unpublished until 1989.
Swan is widely regarded as the greatest economic theorist that Australia has produced, and as one of the finest economists not to receive a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. There were two independent pioneers of Neoclassical Growth Theory: Robert Solow and Trevor Swan. Solow published "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth" in the February issue of the QJE in 1956, and Trevor Swan published "Economic Growth and Capital Accumulation" in the Economic Record, subsequent to Solow in December 1956. Swan's contribution has been overshadowed by Solow, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in 1987 for his contributions to economic growth.
Born and educated in Sydney, Swan attended Canterbury High School where he was Dux in 1935. After school he joined the Rural Bank of New South Wales, studying part-time at the University of Sydney. In 1940 he received a bachelor of economics with First Class Honours and was awarded the gold medal, the first time it had been awarded on the basis of part-time study; he was appointed an assistant lecturer at the University of Sydney. From 1942 to 1950 he was employed in government service, as an economist in the Department of War Organization of Industry, secretary to the War Commitments Committee, chairman of the Food Priorities Committee, joint secretary of the Joint Administrative Planning Sub-Committee of the Defence Committee, chief economist of the Department of Post-War Reconstruction, and, from 1949, chief economist of the Department of the Prime Minister. During this period he contributed to the White Paper on Full Employment which set the framework for Australian macroeconomic policy in the postwar decades.
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