| Bemerkung: | Lawrence R. Klein, Autobiography
Leo Byron Klein and Blanche (Monheit) Klein, both of whom were born in the American Middle West, had three children. I, Lawrence Klein, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, as were my elder brother and younger sister. My early education was in the public school system of Omaha, where, retrospectively, I realize that my high school training served me in good stead for the basic subjects of mathematics, English, foreign languages and history.
Although I was not aware of it at the time, the experience of growing up during the Great Depression was to have a profound impact on my intellectual and professional career. Collegiate life subsequently gave me a basis for understanding this experience and to develop some analytical skills for dealing with the important economic aspects of this era, as well as the exciting times that were to come - World War II, postwar reconstruction, and expansion.
An early fascination with higher mathematics at the university level blossomed into speculative thinking that could provide a basis for dealing with economic issues. The teachings of the mathematics faculty at Los Angeles City College provided me with great stimulus, and the onset of World War II, with all the associated disturbances leading up to it, made a tremendous impression on my thoughts about socio-politico-economic interrelationships.
The completion of my undergraduate training at the University of California (Berkeley) provided just the needed touches of rigor at advanced levels in both economics and mathematics. My teachers there gave me great encouragement and challenge. It came as a surprise to find that a professional society and journal (Econometrica) were flourishing, and I entered this area of study with great enthusiasm.
The next two steps in my training and professional development were, however, fundamental. A chance to study at M.I.T. under the rising star of the period - Paul A. Samuelson - was an unforgettable experience. I successfully vied for his time and attention which were instrumental in giving me a good grasp of economics and mathematical ways of dealing with significant problems of the subject. After I completed my dissertation under Paul Samuelson, the next major step was a decision to join the econometrics team at the Cowles Commission of the University of Chicago, where the director, Jacob Marschak, gave me the challenging assignment of reviving Jan Tinbergen's early attempts at econometric model building for the United States.
At Chicago, I was in the midst of a veritable galaxy of stars: Trygve Haavelmo, Tjalling Koopmans, Theodore Anderson, Leonid Hurwicz, Herman Rubin, Kenneth Arrow, Don Patinkin, Herman Chernoff, and Herbert Simon, among others. I completed my first of a series of macroeconometric models, solidified my understanding of econometrics, learned (through endless discussion) about the functioning of the economy, and got started on several theoretical paths such as aggregation, demand systems, and prediction.
At the Cowles Commission, I met and married Sonia Adelson (my second marriage). We were anxious to visit Europe right after World War II and left for Norway in October, 1947, to spend an academic year with Ragnar Frisch and Trygve Haavelmo. On the way from Chicago, I spent the summer of 1947 in Ottawa, helping to build the first of a series of econometric models for the Canadian government. During 1948, I had the opportunity of visiting economists in Sweden (Herman Wold, Erik Lundberg, Erik Lindahl, and Ragnar Bentzel), on the Continent (Jan Tinbergen), and in |