Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas (1906–1994)

Romanian- born US economist. His early achievements were based on highly technical mathematical economics, largely in utility theory and input-output analysis. He wrote on a number of other subjects including production theory, the nature of expectations, agrarian economies, and the Marxist prediction of capitalist breakdown. He later explored the area of growth modelling and attempted to formulate the principles of ‘bioeconomics’, a new style of ‘dialectical’ economic thinking to replace the ‘mechanical’ mode. The ideas behind bioeconomics are best explored in his article ‘Energy Analysis and Economic Evaluation’ in the Southern Economic Journal (April 1979).

Georgescu-Roegen was born in Constanza, Romania. After earning a mathematics degree from the University of Bucharest and a PhD in statistics from the University of Paris, he emigrated to the USA in 1947. He spent two years teaching at Harvard University, Massachusetts, before accepting a professorship at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, where he remained until his retirement in 1976.