On the Origins of Econometrics in Australia. The Contributions of Maurice Belz and Robert W. James

Abstract

In the second half of the 1930s Maurice Belz, a senior lecturer in mathematics at the University of Melbourne, and Robert W. James, a master’s student in economics at the same university, accomplished a remarkable achievement: they published three articles in Econometrica. These publications were the result of their explorations into the study of economic questions by means of statistical and mathematical methods. Both Belz and James travelled to Europe to get acquainted with leading econometricians and to present their work at the meetings of the Econometric Society.In this paper I focus on the contributions to econometrics of these largely forgotten pioneers. Using archival documents from the University of Melbourne and from other sources, I reconstruct how Belz and James became interested in econometric research and wrote their first papers on econometrics. I also provide evidence on their contacts in Europe, with Ragnar Frisch as a pivotal figure.World War II put an end to their collaboration and to their econometric research. Belz pursued his academic career at the University of Melbourne, where he was promoted to Foundation Professor of Statistics in 1955. James completely abandoned economics and turned to meteorology. During the war he served in the British army. After the war he returned to Australia, where he worked for some time in the meteorological division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Melbourne.