Knut Getz Wold (3 August 1915 – 9 October 1987) was a Norwegian economist and civil servant, who served as the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Central Bank of Norway from 1970 to 1985. He was born in

Verdal Verdal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra. Some villages in the municipality include Forbregd/Lein, Lysthaugen, Stiklesta ...

Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...

, as a son of district physician Trygve Wold (1879–1939) and Anna Ella Getz (1893–1960). He graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

with cand.oecon. degree in 1939. As a young man he became a member of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

. He lost his brother Torolf during the Norwegian Campaign on 4 May 1940. He started working with research at the university, and studied further at

Stockholm College Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

in 1940. In 1941 he started working for the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and ...

-in-exile in the United Kingdom. From July 1947 to March 1948 he served as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs. Wold represented the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

, and Gerhardsen's Second Cabinet in which he was appointed was a Labour cabinet. This discrepancy is very uncommon in Norwegian history. In 1948 he returned to the civil servant role when he became deputy under-secretary of state in the

Ministry of Trade A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and Mi ...

. In his diaries he described the Ministry of Trade as "not ..a ministry, but a Brain Trust of young economists". He remained there until 1958, when former Minister of Trade Erik Brofoss, who now had become

of the Central Bank of Norway, appointed Wold as deputy governor. Wold was the unquestionable successor as governor when Brofoss withdrew in 1970. In 1985, the year of his seventieth birthday, Wold stepped down and was succeeded by Hermod Skånland. Wold was also a consultant for the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

from 1946 to 1958, financial commentator in

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

radio from 1948 to 1970, chairman of Statsøkonomisk Forening from 1963 to 1968, board chairman of ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

'' from 1970 to 1974 and board member of Alcan Aluminium from 1967 to 1971. He was appointed a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1975, a Commander of the Danish

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

and a Grand Knight of the Icelandic

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon ( is, Hin íslenska fálkaorða) is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. ...

. He died in October 1987 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wold, Knut Getz 1915 births 1987 deaths Norwegian civil servants University of Oslo alumni Norwegian expatriates in Sweden Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Governors of the Central Bank of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian state secretaries NRK people Norwegian diarists Grand Knights of the Order of the Falcon People from Verdal Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian economists Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people 20th-century diarists