Egon Neuberger

Background

Neuberger, Egon was born on February 27, 1925 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia. Came to the United States, 1940. Son of Paul and Ann (Freund) Neuberger.

Education

Bachelor of Arts Cornell University, 1947. Master of Arts (International Affairs), Doctor of Philosophy Harvard University, 1949, 1957.

Career

Economics Analyst, United States Department State, 1949-1954. Economics Officer, American Embassy, Moscow, 1952-1953. Assistant Professor, Amherst College, Massachusetts, 1957-1960.

Economics, Rand Corporation, 1961-1966. Adjunct Association Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., United States of America, 1963-1965. Visiting Professor, University Michigan, 1965-1966.

Visiting Scholar, London School of Economies and Political Science, London, United Kingdom, 1982, Birkbeck College London, 1982, Centre d’Economie Quant, et Comp., Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1982, Columbia

University, 1967-1968, 1975, Indiana University,

75. Dean, Social and Behavioural Sciences, since 1982, Professor of Economics, State University New York, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America, since 1967. Editor, Irving Fisher and Frank W. Taussig Competitions, Omicron Delta Epsilon, 1969-1983.

Achievements

• Joint Committee Eastern Europe, United States Social Science Research Council, United Kingdom or United States of America, 1970-1974. Winner, Ford Foundation International Competition, Research on Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1975. Executive Committee, Association Comp.
  
  Economics Studies, 1974-1976. Distinguished Award Outstanding Service, Omcron Delta Epsilon, 1980-1981, 1981.

Views

My career has been devoted to developing various areas of comparative economic systems in an attempt to bring the field into the mainstream of economics. My basic approach has been inductive — study institutions, develop appropriate analytical instruments, and then generalise from the specific cases. My most important contribution has been the development of a systems theoretic conceptual framework for analysing economic systems, the DIM (decisionmaking, information, motivation) approach.

This was presented in several articles but its simplest and yet most comprehensive treatment was in Comparative Economic Systems: A DecisionMaking Approach. I taught this approach to a generation of Stony Brook students and they and I have used it to analyse economic systems of many countries, of both the Catholic and Mormon Churches, the East German kombinati, the Israeli kibbutz, and Yugoslav self-managed enterprise, and others. I provided seminal contributions to the study of several institutions, including Yugoslav investment auctions, The Council of Mutual Economic Assist

ance, and self-managed organisations.

In addition, I contributed to the analysis of centrally planned foreign trade, the transmission of economic disturbances, the analysis of growth patterns in socialist economies, and internal migration.

Thus, I ranged broadly over the field but always isolated the economic system as the variable for study and have approached it by generalising and abstracting from the real world. My other major contribution to the field of economics was the founding in 1969 of the Irving Fisher Award competition for Doctor of Philosophy dissertations, and the Frank W. Taussig Award competition for undergraduate papers, under the sponsorship of Omicron Delta Epsilon. With quality standards set by the first final selection board, composed of Kenneth Arrow, Kenneth Boulding, Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson, the competitions have stimulated student excellence and some of today’s leading young economists have won these coveted awards.

Membership

Served with United States Army, 1943-1946, European Theatre of Operations. Member Association Comparative Economic Studies (member executive committee 1974-1976, president 1990-1991), American Economic Association, Association Study of Grants Economy (advisory board), Omicron Delta Epsilon (president 1979-1981, executive board, Distinguished Ser. award 1981).

Connections

Married Florence Perlmutter, December 22, 1949. Children: Leah Ruth, Marc Joseph.

Father:

Paul Neuberger

Mother:

Ann (Freund) Neuberger

Spouse:

Florence Perlmutter

child:

Leah Ruth Neuberger

child:

Marc Joseph Neuberger