Duncan Black, FBA (23 May 1908 – 14 January 1991) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

who laid the foundations of social choice theory. In particular he was responsible for unearthing the work of many early

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and l ...

s, including

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

, and was responsible for the Black electoral system, a

Condorcet method A Condorcet method (; ) is an election method that elects the candidate who wins a majority of the vote in every head-to-head election against each of the other candidates, that is, a candidate preferred by more voters than any others, whenever ...

whereby, in the absence of a Condorcet winner (e.g. due to a cycle), the Borda winner is chosen.

Biography

Black was born in Motherwell, Scotland, an industrial town south east of Glasgow, to a working-class family. He graduated from the

Dalziel High School Dalziel High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The head teacher is Jaclyn Martin. Overview Dalziel High School was founded in 1898. James K. Scobbie, Rector from 1957 until 1974, greatly ...

in Motherwell and then studied mathematics and physics at the University of Glasgow. He then enrolled for a degree in economics and politics which he finished with first class honours in 1932. He started teaching at the newly formed Dundee School of Economics (later part of the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

). There Black was influenced by his colleague Ronald Coase, originator of the

Theory of the Firm The theory of the firm consists of a number of economic theories that explain and predict the nature of the firm, company, or corporation, including its existence, behaviour, structure, and relationship to the market. Firms are key drivers in eco ...

. He later taught at the University College of North Wales (now

Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...

) and Glasgow. Black also had visiting positions in the United States, at the universities of Rochester, Chicago, Virginia and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. These occurred after

William H. Riker William Harrison Riker (September 22, 1920 – June 26, 1993) was an American political scientist who is prominent for applying game theory and mathematics to political science. He helped to establish University of Rochester as a center of beha ...

reviewed his work in 1961.The Theory of Committees and Elections by Duncan Black, and Committee Decisions with Complementary Valuation by Duncan Black and R. A. Newing, Revised Second Editions, edited by Iain McLean, Alistair McMillan and Burt Monroe, Kluwer Academic Publishing, 1998. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1980.

Biography

Archives

See also

References

Further reading