Werner Zvi Hirsch (June 10, 1920 – July 10, 2009) was a German-born American economist. Born in small-town Germany, Hirsch emigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

(later known as

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) to escape the Nazis in the late 1930s, where he attended the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He emigrated to the United States in 1946 and received a PhD in economics from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1949. He was a professor of economics at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) from 1963 to 1990. He was an expert on urban economics and higher education policy.

Early life

Werner Hirsch was born on June 10, 1920, in

Linz am Rhein Linz am Rhein (, ) is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the river Rhine near Remagen, approx. 25 km southeast of Bonn and has about 6,000 inhabitants. It is the s ...

, Germany. Due to the rise of antisemitic

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

in Germany, Hirsch and his family moved to

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

(now known as

) in 1936. He took the middle name "Zvi" in Israel. Hirsch attended the

. He emigrated to the United States in 1946 and earned a bachelor's degree from the

in 1947. He earned a PhD in economics from Berkeley in 1949.

Career

Hirsch worked at Berkeley from 1949 to 1951. He was an economist at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

in 1952. He taught economics at the

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

from 1953 to 1962. Hirsch became a professor of economics at the

in 1963. He served as the first director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at UCLA. He retired from UCLA in 1990. Meanwhile, he worked for the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

, the

Kerner Commission The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor of Illinois, Governor Otto Kerner Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission (United States), Presidential Commission es ...

, the

United States Congress Joint Economic Committee The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic c ...

, the

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

, the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

, and the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. Meanwhile, with Luc E. Weber, Hirsch was the co-founder of the

Glion Colloquium The Glion Colloquium is a think-tank on higher education. It holds a forum every second year in Glion, Switzerland to consider the role of the world's leading higher education institutions in addressing emerging challenges and opportunities. For in ...

, a think tank on higher education which published many books about higher education policy. Hirsch endowed the Werner Z. Hirsch Award in Representational Drawing in the Department of Art at UCLA.

Personal life and death

Hirsch married Hilde Emma Zwiren, known as Esther, whom he met in Israel. They resided in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he died of pancreatic cancer, aged 89, on July 10, 2009.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Werner Z. 1920 births 2009 deaths Writers from Rhineland-Palatinate Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine 20th-century American economists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States Jewish American economists