Background
Kristensen was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle, Denmark.
Diplomat economist university professor
Kristensen was born a son of a farmer in Fløjstrup close to Vejle, Denmark.
University of Copenhagen, Master of Science Economy. Spoken languages: Danish, English, French, German.
Between 1938–1945 he was professor at the University of Aarhus and between 1947–1960 at the Copenhagen Business School. Thorkil Kristensen was elected to the Danish Parliament 1945 and became finance minister under Knud Kristiansen (1945–1947) and Erik Eriksen (1950–1953). Throughout his life he worked with difficult economic problems.
Among people of his own party and opposing parties, he enjoyed great respect because of his broad knowledge of economics.
He came to disagree on economic policy with his party, Venstre, and left the party in 1960. After his exit from politics, he was secretary general of the Organization of European Cooperation and Development from 1960-1969.
He was managing director at CIFS from 1970–1988. He participated in the Club of Rome which attracted considerable public attention with its report, Limits to Growth, which has sold 30 million copies in more than 30 translations, making it the best selling environmental book in world history.
Club of Rome.