Wolfgang Stolper

[michael perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of my favorite teachers just died.  He was a wonderful teacher, who
rarely talked about economics.  He just handed out papers with his
lectures, then he would talk about everything else: philosophy,
theology, music ....

None of us understood 1% of what he said, but we were still fascinated.
I told him a few years ago how much I appreciated his teaching.  He was
surprised.  He told us all sorts of wild stories about Schumpeter, even
though none of us had the foggiest idea who he was.


         April 4, 2002

         W.F. Stolper, Trade Theory
         Economist, Dies at 89

         By LOUIS UCHITELLE

             olfgang F. Stolper, an
             economist who more than
         60 years ago inspired a theory
         about international trade that to
         this day helps to explain its
         effect on national economies,
         died on Sunday in Ann Arbor,
         Mich., where he lived. He was
         89.

         The breakthrough insight, known as the
         Stolper-Samuelson theorem, came in 1941 when Mr.
         Stolper was a young instructor at Harvard and a
         colleague of Paul A. Samuelson. Mr. Samuelson was
         exploring trade theory, which held then that open trade
         benefited the economies of the trading nations and their
         work forces.

         That was when Mr. Stolper came to Mr. Samuelson
         with a caveat. Trade stimulates greater economic
         growth, Mr. Stolper agreed, but is not necessarily
         beneficial for all workers. As trade between countries
         rises, prices change, scarcity and abundance come into
         play, and the wages of some workers ? the abundant
         ones ? fall.

         "Stolper came to me with this very important insight,"
         Mr. Samuelson recalled yesterday, "and I said: `That is
         really important. It is not in the literature, and you
         should write it up.' "

         "I was the midwife for the Stolper-Samuelson theorem,
         which is Stolper-Samuelson, not Samuelson-Stolper,"
         he added.

         Although trade theory has greatly evolved since the
         1940's, the Stolper insight has remained an essential
         part.

         In contrast to Mr. Samuelson, a Nobel laureate, Mr.
         Stolper never again achieved another breakthrough in
         theory equal to the insight that has made his name so
         well known in his profession. He went on to specialize
         in developing-country economics, an interest that grew
         out of his research on East Germany and a book, "The
         Structure of the East German Economy."

         Mr. Stolper moved from Harvard to Swarthmore
         College in 1941 and to the University of Michigan in
         1949, teaching economics there until he retired in
         1983. Along with teaching, Mr. Stolper took on a
         parallel role as an adviser abroad, most notably in
         Nigeria. In the early 1960's, he served for a year as the
         chief economic adviser to the struggling government of
         that newly independent nation.

         Out of that experience came a book, "Planning Without
         Facts." At his death, Mr. Stolper was preparing a
         memoir based on his Nigerian experiences, drawn from
         the letters he wrote almost daily to his wife, Martha
         Vögeli Stolper, who was in Ann Arbor.

         Wolfgang Frederich Stolper was born in Vienna on
         May 13, 1912. After World War I, the family moved to
         Bonn, where Mr. Stolper's father, Gustav, published a
         weekly economics journal, served one term in
         Parliament and introduced his son to the famous
         economist Joseph A. Schumpeter, who became the
         young man's mentor, not only in Germany but also later
         at Harvard. Mr. Stolper wrote a biography of his
         mentor, "Joseph Alois Schumpeter," which was
         published in 1994.

         The Stolper family fled to the United States after Hitler
         rose to power in 1933. Entering Harvard as a graduate
         student, Mr. Stolper received a doctorate in economics
         in 1938. But economics was only one interest. An
         accomplished pianist, Mr. Stolper had two grand pianos
         in his Ann Arbor home and regularly invited guests to
         the house for chamber music concerts.

         His first wife died in 1972. He is survived by his
         second wife, Margot Kaufmann; two sons, Matthew
         W., of Chicago, and Thomas E., of New Haven; a
         brother, Max, of Alexandria, Va.; and a sister, Joan
         Campbell, of Toronto.
--

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx