Walter Erwin Diewert (born 1941) is a Canadian economist. He was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He completed a B.A. degree in 1963, and an M.A. in mathematics in 1964, both at the University of British Columbia. He completed a Ph.D. at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

in 1968. He is a professor of economics at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1970, and also has a joint appointment at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. He is also a Vice President of the Society for Economic Measurement (SEM). He is one of the world's leading economists dealing with complex empirical issues related to the measurement of price indexes and productivity. He coauthored a reference book on the mathematics of index numbers. In a major contribution in 2012, his analysis suggested that Statistics Canada has significantly understated the growth of productivity in Canada. In 2005, he received the Shiskin Memorial Award for Economic Statistics for his contributions to index number theory. In 2008, he was honored as a Distinguished Fellow of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

References

1941 births Living people 20th-century Canadian economists 21st-century Canadian economists University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Fellows of the Econometric Society Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association {{Canada-economist-stub