Victor Alexandre Ginsburgh (born 1939 in

Rwanda-Urundi Ruanda-Urundi (), later Rwanda-Burundi, was a geopolitical entity, once part of German East Africa, that was occupied by troops from the Belgian Congo during the East African campaign in World War I and was administered by Belgium under milita ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

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 ...

Biography

Ginsburgh was born in 1939 into an expatriate family: "My father was only a white Russian, and my mother an Austrian Jew". Victor Ginsburgh studied at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

and the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

) and mastered in

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

. He earned an

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 ...

PhD in 1972. He has been an Economics professor at Université libre de Bruxelles since 1975. He is now an honorary professor. He is former co-director of the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES). He has been visiting professor in several US universities (

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Chicago University The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

), as well as in France (

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 ...

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

), and Belgium (

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

). He is also member of the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE), Université catholique de Louvain. He wrote and edited a dozen books, including ''The Structure of Applied General Equilibrium'', Cambridge, MA., MIT Press, 1997, with M. Keyzer, and ''How Many Languages Do We Need'', Princeton University Press, 2011 with

Shlomo Weber Shlomo Weber (born 2 September 1949) is an economics professor and president, New Economic School in Moscow, Russia; Academic Director othe Center for Study of Diversity and Social Interactions at NES Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Trustee Professor o ...

, and is the author or coauthor of over 180 papers on topics in applied and theoretical economics, including industrial organization and general equilibrium analysis. His more recent interests go to the economics of languages, as well as to art history and art philosophy, two fields in which he tries to put to use his (self-taught) knowledge of economics. He has published over 50 papers on these topics, some of which appeared in the

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal first published by the American Economic Association in 1911. The current editor-in-chief is Erzo FP Luttmer, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. The journal is ...

, the

Journal of Political Economy The ''Journal of Political Economy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. Established by James Laurence Laughlin in 1892, it covers both theoretical and empirical economics. In the past, the ...

Games and Economic Behavior ''Games and Economic Behavior'' (''GEB'') is a journal of game theory published by Elsevier. Founded in 1989, the journal's stated objective is to communicate game-theoretic ideas across theory and applications. It is considered to be the leadi ...

, the

Journal of Economic Perspectives The ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (''JEP'') is an economic journal published by the American Economic Association. The journal was established in 1987. The JEP was founded by Joseph Stiglitz, Carl Shapiro, and Timothy Taylor. It is orien ...

and the

European Economic Review The ''European Economic Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in economics. The journal was established in 1969 and the editors-in-chief are Evi Pappa (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), David K. Levine (Royal Holloway U ...

. Ginsburgh is the author or coauthor of papers on topics in applied and theoretical economics, including industrial organization and general equilibrium analysis.

Political views

He is known in Belgium for his criticism towards Israel politics which he has expressed in numerous articles.

Selected bibliography

Books

*''How Many Languages Do We Need? The Economics of Linguistic Diversity'', Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, 2011, viii + 232p. (with S. Weber). *''The Structure of Applied General Equilibrium Models'', Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997 and 2002 for the paperback edition (with M. Keyzer). *''Activity Analysis and General Equilibrium Modelling'', Amsterdam: North- Holland, 1981, 370p. (with J. Waelbroeck). *''La République Populaire de Chine. Cadres Institutionnels et Réalisations: La Planification et la Croissance Economique 1949-1959'', Bruxelles: Editions de l'Institut de Sociologie, 1963, 188p.

Edited books

*''The Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture'', vol. 2, Amsterdam: Elsevier, in preparation (with David Throsby). *''The Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture'', vol. 1, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006, xxxv + 1321 p. (with David Throsby).

Selected papers

*Rock and Roll Bands, (In)complete Contracts and Creativity, ''American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings'' 101 (2011), 217-221 (with C. Ceulemans and P. Legros). *Endowments, production technologies and the quality of wines in Bordeaux. Does terroir matter?, ''The Economic Journal'' 118 (2008), F142-F157 (with O. Gergaud). *Disenfranchisement in linguistically diverse societies. The case of the European Union, ''Journal of the European Economic Association'' 3 (2005), 946-964 (with I. Ortuno-Ortin and S. Weber). *Awards, success and aesthetic quality in the arts, ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' 17 (2003), 99-111. *The museum pass game and its value, ''Games and Economic Behavior'' 43 (2003), 322-325 (with I. Zang). *Expert opinion and compensation: evidence from a musical competition, ''American Economic Review'' 93 (2003), 289-298 (with J. van Ours). *On invisible trade relations between Mesopotamian cities during the third millennium B.C., ''The Professional Geographer'' 53 (2001), 374-383 (with A. Bossuyt and L. Broze). *Absentee bidders and the declining price anomaly in wine auctions, ''Journal of Political Economy'' 106 (1998), 1302–1322.

References

External links

Webpage at ECARESGinsburgh's personal weblog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginsburgh, Victor Belgian economists Cultural economists Cultural economics 1939 births Living people Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni