How it all began: the first Econometric Society meeting, Lausanne, September 1931

Abstract

The first meeting of the Econometric Society took place in 1931 on the initiative of Ragnar Frisch. The meeting initiated the formation of an econometric community which influenced the transformation of economics through internationalisation and mathematisation. The article gives a documentary account of the meeting and its background and of how the Society established the first international journal in economics. The promising rise of European econometric came to an end when the last two interwar meetings collapsed under the dark forebodings of war.