Douglass North, economist, Died at 95

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Douglass Cecil North was born on November 5, 1920, and died on November 23, 2015.

He was an American economist known for his work in economic history.

Cecil was the co-recipient (with Robert William Fogel) of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

In the words of the Nobel Committee, North and Fogel were awarded the prize “for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change.”

Cecil North was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1920.

He moved several times as a child due to his father’s work at MetLife, living in Cambridge; Ottawa; Lausanne; New York City; and Wallingford, Connecticut.

A conscientious objector in World War II, North became a navigator in the Merchant Marine, travelling between San Francisco and Australia.

During this time, Cecil read economics and picked up his hobby of photography.

Cecil taught navigation at the Maritime Service Officers’ School in Alameda during the last year of the war, and struggled with the decision of whether to become a photographer or an economist.

Cecil passed away at age 95 on November 23, 2015.