Irwin FRIEND

Background

Friend, Irwin was born on July 10, 1915 in Schenectady. Son of Solomon and Dina (Ryzowy) Friend.

Education

Bachelor of Science(Mathematics) College City New York, 1935. Doctor of Philosophy American University, 1953.

Career

Assistant director trading and exchange division, Securities and Exchange Commission, 1937-1947; chief business structure division, Department Commerce, 1947-1953; Richard K. Mellon and Edward J. Hopkinson professor finance and economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1953-1987. Visiting Frederick R. Kappel Professor government and business University of Minnesota, 1970. Consultant United States government agys., congressional committees, Portugal, India, Turkey, Greece, Italy, China, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Israel, United Nations and business organizations;member Executive Committee Conference on Income and Wealth, 1960-1963.

Former director Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. Director or trustee Dean Witter/Sears Intercapital Funds and Trusts.

Achievements

• Irwin Friend has been listed as a noteworthy economics educator by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Changing Role of the Individual Investor: A Twentieth Century Fund Report (Reports)

    (Uses information obtained from federal income tax returns...)

  • Proceedings of the Conference on Consumption and Savings. Two (2) Volume Set (Study of Consumer Expenditures Incomes and Savings)

    (1)

  • Investment Banking and the New Issues Market - Summary Volume
  • Mutual Funds and Other Institutional Investors: A New Perspective
  • Private capital markets; A series of research studies prepared for the Commissio
  • Individuals' Saving - Volume and Composition
  • Investment Banking and the New Issues Market
  • The Over-the-Counter Securities Markets: Based on a Series of Monographs
  • Private Capital Markets (A Series of Research Studies Prepared for the Commission on Money and Credit)
  • The Over-The-Counter Securities Markets, Based on a Series of Monographs by Members of the Securities Research Unit, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
  • Consumption and saving (Study of consumer expenditures, incomes, and savings / University of Pennsylvania. Wharton School of Finance and Commerce)

Views

My work has been devoted largely to the testing and extension of theory in economics and finance. This includes theory for risky assets and capital asset pricing, including pricing under uncertainty, heterogeneous expectations, inflation and taxation: the efficiency of capital markets, including the effect of regulation on such markets. The optimal corporate financial policies, especially relating to capital structure and dividend policy.

Participant of this work necessitated the development of new statistical measures of highly important, but heretofore unobservable economic and related variables, such as the Pratt-Arrow measure of relative risk aversion for the market as a whole (after demonstrating that constant proportional risk aversion is a tenable approximation to the market’s portfolio behaviour). The cost of capital under uncertainty. And anticipated plant and equipment expenditures and related expectations held by the business community.

The testing of theory I have carried out has frequently required an extension of existing theory (as indicated for example by the extension of the theory on the demand for risky assets from the microto the macrolevels and from the existing no-tax model to one incorporating taxes). lieutenant has also frequently required both the use of data not generally used for this purpose (e.g. cross-section as well as time-series data in determining the nature of the demand for risky assets and continuous cross-section data for testing saving and consumption functions) and the collection of new data on investments and their financing directly from corporations and institutional and individual investors.

Membership

Fellow Econometric Society, American Statistical Association (chairman business and economics statistical section 1961-1962, board editors journal 1968-1971). Member American Economics Association, American Finance Association (president 1972), Phi Beta Kappa.

Interests

• 130 Economic Fluctuations, Forecasting, Stabilization and Inflation. 200 Quantitative Economic Methods and Data. 300 Domestic Monetary and Financial Policy and Institutions.

Connections

Married Corinne Vernon, November 5, 1941. Children: Peter Sayre, Leslie Andrea.

Father:

Solomon Friend

Mother:

Dina (Ryzowy) Friend

Spouse:

Corinne Vernon

child:

Peter Sayre Friend

child:

Leslie Andrea Friend