Mancur Olson: Difference between revisions

{{ShortUse description|American economist and politicalEnglish|date=July scientist2023}}

| name = MançurMancur Olson

| school_tradition = [[New institutional economics]]<ref>https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACC813.pdf</ref>

|birth_name=MançurMancur Lloyd Olson Jr.

| institutionfield = [[University of MarylandEconomics]]<br />[[PrincetonPolitical Universityscience]]

'''MançurMancur Lloyd Olson Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|s|ər}};<ref name="journal" /> January 22, 1932 – February 19, 1998) was an American [[economist]] and [[Political science|political scientist]] who taught at the [[University of Maryland, College Park]]. His most influential contributions were into [[new institutional economics]], and infocused on the role whichplayed by [[private property]], [[taxation]], [[public goods]], [[collective action]], and [[contract]] rights play in [[economic development]].

Olson was born on January 22, 1932, in [[Grand Forks, North Dakota]], to a family of [[Norwegian-American|Norwegian]] immigrants.<ref name="journal" /><ref name="archive" /><ref name="life">{{cite news |last1=Lardner |first1=James |title=Why America Is Outhustled Mancur |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/10/12/why-america-is-outhustled-mancur/87185a05-6b4a-4e77-b8e1-01a8f3bc8dd3/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=21 February 21, 2022 |date=12 October 12, 1982}}</ref> He grew up on a farm near [[Buxton, North Dakota]], next to the state border with [[Climax, Minnesota]].<ref name="death">{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Bart |title=MANCUR OLSON DIES AT 66 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/02/25/mancur-olson-dies-at-66/a72b9ca0-c890-4d77-9c20-97843a140a2c/ |access-date=21 February 21, 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=25 February 25, 1998}}</ref> Olson claimed that his given name, MançurMancur, was common throughout Scandinavian-immigrant communities in North America and was a variation of the Arabic name [[Mansoor]].<ref name="journal">{{cite journal |last1=Dixit |first1=Avinash |title=Mancur Olson-Social Scientist |journal=The Economic Journal |date=June 1999 |volume=109 |issue=456 |pages=F443–F452 |doi=10.1111/1468-0297.00444 |jstor=2566014}}</ref><ref name="life" />

Olson graduated from [[North Dakota State University]] in 1954, and was a [[Rhodes Scholar]] at [[University College, Oxford|University College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] untilfrom 1954 to 1956, before earning a [[PhD]] in [[economics]] from [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1963.<ref name="journal" /> He also served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] for two years from 1961 to 1963.<ref name="death" />

While serving in the U.S. Air Force, Olson became a lecturer in the Economics Department of the [[United States Air Force Academy]] from 1961 to 1963.<ref name="journal" /> He then became an assistant professor at [[Princeton University]] in 1963.<ref name="death" /><ref name=nyt>{{cite news|author1=Peter Passell|title=Mançur Olson, 66, a Professor and Author of Economics Books|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/24/business/mancur-olson-66-a-professor-and-author-of-economics-books.html|work=New York Times|date=February 24, 1998}}</ref> Afterwards, he served as Deputy Assistant [[United States Secretary of Health and Human Services|Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare]] for two years in [[Washington, D.C.]] In 1969, he left government and joined the economics department of the [[University of Maryland, College Park]], where he remained until his death.<ref name=nyt/>

Olson married his wife, AllisonAlison, in 1959, and the couple had three children.<ref name="archive">{{cite web |title=Collection: Mancur Olson papers |url=https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1335 |website=archives.lib.umd.edu |publisher=University of Maryland, College Park |access-date=21 February 21, 2022}}</ref> At the time of his death, he was a resident of College Park, Maryland.<ref name="death" />

On February 19, 1998, Olson, then 66 years of age, suddenly collapsed outside his office after returning from lunch. He never regained consciousness and died on the same day. He and his infant son are buried in the cemetery of his childhood church, Grue Norwegian Lutheran, near his family’s farm and hometown of Buxton, Traill County, North Dakota. The cause of death was later determined to be a [[heart attack]].<ref name="death" />

In his first book, ''[[The Logic of Collective Action|The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups]]'' (1965), he theorized that what stimulates people to act in groups is incentive; members of large groups do not act in accordance with a common interest unless motivated by personal gain (economic, social, etc.). While small groups can act on shared objectives, large groups will not work towards shared objectives unless their individual members are sufficiently motivated.<ref>Mancur Olson Jr., 1965, 2nd ed., 1971. ''The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups'', Harvard University Press, [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674537514 Description], [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=24500&content=toc Table of Contents], and [https://books.google.com/books?id=jzTeOLtf7_wC&printsec=find&pg=PA5=onepage&q&f=false#v=onepage&q&f=false preview].</ref>

In his final book, ''[[Power and Prosperity]]'' (2000), Olson distinguished between the economic effects of different types of government, in particular, [[tyranny]], [[anarchy]], and [[democracy]]. Olson argued that under anarchy, a "roving bandit" only has the incentive to steal and destroy, whilst a "[[Stationary bandit theory|stationary bandit]]"—a tyrant—has an incentive to encourage some degree of economic success as he expects to remain in power long enough to benefit from that success. A stationary bandit thereby begins to take on the governmental function of protecting citizens and their property against roving bandits. In the move from roving to stationary bandits, Olson sees the seeds of [[civilization]], paving the way, eventually for democracy, which by giving power to those who align with the wishes of the population, improves incentives for good government.<ref>Mancur Olson, 2000. ''Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships'', Oxford University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BX3cZqSbHlMC&printsec=find&pg=PA241=onepage&q&f=false#v=onepage&q&f=false Description] and chapter-preview [https://books.google.com/books?id=BX3cZqSbHlMC&printsec=frontcover#PPR5,M1 links.] ''[[Foreign Affairs]] ''[http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55913/richard-n-cooper/power-and-prosperity-outgrowing-communist-and-capitalist-dictato review].</ref> Olson's work on the roving vs. stationary bandits is influential in analysis of the political and economic order structured in [[warlord]] states and societies.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

To help bring his ideas to the attention of policymakers, Olson founded the Center for Institutional Reform in the Informal Sector ("IRIS Center"), funded by [[USAID]] (United States Agency for International Development). Based at the University of Maryland, the Center sought to supply an intellectual foundation for legal and economic reform projects carried out by USAID in formerly communist states that were attempting to make the transition to market-driven democratic governments governed by the [[rule of law]]. It was particularly active in East and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The Center also became actively involved in projects in South America, Africa, and Asia, where it became a proponent of [[judicial independence]]. It sponsored the first conference on [[corruption]] in francophone Africa in the 1990s, when it was a very sensitive subject.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} The IRIS Center continued to operate after Olson's death, but was eventually folded into other programs at the University of Maryland.

To honor Olson's many contributions, the [[American Political Science Association]] established the Olson Award for the best PhD dissertation in Political Economy.<ref>[http://www.apsanet.org/MEMBERSHIP/Organized-Sections-by-Title/Organized-Section-25-Mancur-Olson-Best-Dissertation-Award Organized Section 25: Mancur Olson Best Dissertation Award]</ref> In 2013 the University of Maryland announced the creation of a new [[Financial endowment#Endowed professorships|endowed professorship]]—the Mancur Olson Professor of Economics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.econ.umd.edu/about/news/97 |title=ArchivedRecent copyNews: May 14, 2013 &#124; Department of Economics, University of Maryland |access-date=2013-05-May 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231744/http://www.econ.umd.edu/about/news/97 |archive-date=December 2, 2013-12-02 }}</ref> Maryland Professor of Economics Peter Murrell was the first Mancur Olson Professor.

* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/logicofcollectiv00olso_0 |title=The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups |date=1965 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-53751-3 |location=Cambridge, MAMassachusetts}}

* {{Cite book |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/The_No_Growth_Society/?id=KcZ_AAAAQBAJ |title=The No-Growth Society |date=1974 |publisher=Norton |isbn=0-393-01111-9 |location=New York, NY}}

* {{Cite book |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/_/?id=U3oHlwEACAAJ |title=A New Approach to the Economics of Health Care |date=1981 |publisher=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research |isbn=0-844-72212-X |location=Washington, D.C.}}

* {{Cite book |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/A_Not_so_dismal_Science/?id=xScTDAAAQBAJ |title=A Not-so-dismal Science: A Broader View of Economies and Societies |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-198-29369-0 |location=Oxford; New York}}

* {{Cite book |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Power_And_Prosperity/?id=VJejswEACAAJ |title=Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships |date=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=0-465-05195-2 |location=New York}}

* {{cite journal|title=Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development|journal=American Political Science Review|date=September 1993|volume=87|issue=3|pages=567–576|url=http://www.svt.ntnu.no/iss/Indra.de.Soysa/POL3503H05/olson.pdf|doi=10.2307/2938736|jstor=2938736|last1=Olson|first1=Mancur|s2cid=145312307 }}

[[Category:Public choice theorytheorists]]