Berthold F. Hoselitz (1913–1995)

Abstract

Berthold Frank Hoselitz taught for over three decades at the University of Chicago. He is distinctive as a Chicago economist for the way in which he employed sociological and historical perspectives along with economic perspectives in his analysis of developing economies. His signature work was the application of sociologist Talcott Parsons’s pattern variable framework to distinguish the cultural attitudes and social structure of underdeveloped from developed economies. More generally, he emphasised the importance of non-economic factors in analysing the causes and consequences of economic development. Hoselitz was the founding editor of the influential and enduring journal Economic Development and Cultural Change. He wrote on a wide variety of topics ranging from long-run trends in urbanisation to the role of the entrepreneur. Hoselitz also made important contributions to translation and encyclopaedia projects, including the first English translation of Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics.