Béla Alexander Balassa (6 April 1928 – 10 May 1991) was a Hungarian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, 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 ...

who served as a professor at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and was a consultant to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. Balassa is best known for his work on the relationship between

purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measure of the price of specific goods in different countries and is used to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a market bask ...

and cross-country productivity differences (the

Balassa–Samuelson effect The Balassa–Samuelson effect, also known as Harrod–Balassa–Samuelson effect (Kravis and Lipsey 1983), the Ricardo–Viner–Harrod–Balassa–Samuelson–Penn–Bhagwati effect (Samuelson 1994, p. 201), or productivity biased purchasin ...

). He is also known for his work on revealed comparative advantage. Balassa received a law degree from the University of Budapest. He left Hungary after the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

and went to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. While there, he received a grant from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

to study at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

in 1958 and 1959, respectively. He won the

John Addison Porter John Addison Porter (March 15, 1822 – August 25, 1866) was an American professor of chemistry and physician. He is the namesake of the John Addison Porter Prize and was a founder of the Scroll and Key senior society of Yale University. Acad ...

Prize for 1959. Balassa also did extensive consulting work for the

, serving as an advisor on development and trade policy. According to an authoritative history of the Bank, Balassa was "a protagonist of the Bank's conceptual transformation in the trade-policy area during the 1970s." Beyond economics, Balassa was a noted

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

who compiled and periodically updated an unofficial guide to eating well in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

while remaining within an international agency expense allowance, which circulated among his friends and colleagues.Balassa, Béla. '' A Primer in Culinary Economics, or How to Maximize the Culinary Utility of the Dollar in Paris.'' Processed. 8th edition, 1987.

Publications

*''The Theory of Economic Integration''. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. London : 1961. *''Trade prospects for developing countries'', Homewood, Ill. : 1964. *''Trade Liberalization Among Industrial Countries : Objectives and Alternatives''. Published for the Council on Foreign Relations by McGraw-Hill. New York : 1967. *''The Role of Foreign Trade in the Economic Development of Korea'', in ''Foreign Trade and Investment'', University of Wisconsin Press. *''The Newly Industrializing Countries in the World Economy'', Pergamon Press: New York. *''Policy Responses to External Shocks in Hungary and Yugoslavia: 1974-76 and 1979-81'', Volume 1, ''Economic Performance and Policy'', Printed for the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, October 28, 1985. *''Policy Experiments in Chile, 1973-1983'', in ''The National Economic Policies of Chile'',

Edward Altman Edward I. Altman (born June 5, 1941) is a Professor of Finance, Emeritus, at New York University's Stern School of Business. He is best known for the development of the Altman Z-score for predicting bankruptcy which he published in 1968. Profe ...

and Ingo Walter, Eds, New York University. *''The "New Growth Path" in Hungary'', in ''Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review'', December 1985.

Biography

*1962–1967 teaching assistant at Yale University *1966–1991 Professor at Johns Hopkins University *1966– Advisor, the World Bank *1970–1971 editor of REStat; chairman of the Association of Comparative Economics *1979–1980 chairman of the Association of Comparative Economic Studies *1980 Institut de France, Laureate

References

1928 births 1991 deaths Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty 20th-century Hungarian economists {{Economist-stub