Icelandic economists: have they made a difference? A personal view

• Main Authors: Thorvaldur Gylfason, Arne Jon Isachsen, Lars Jonung, Guðmundur Ó Lafsson, Agnar S
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.557.3833

This paper offers a personal view of Icelandic economists and the influence they have had on economic policy making in Iceland since the 19th century. The independence hero Jón Sigurðsson (1811-1879) is identified as Iceland’s first economist in a modern sense, even if he was not an economist by training. A brief description of economic developments since home rule was attained from Denmark in 1904 is followed by an attempt to explain, by appealing to considerations of mentality, social psychology, and unbalanced education among other things, why Icelandic economists may perhaps have had less influence than they would have liked.