Pietro Balestra (economist)
{{Short description|Swiss economist (1935–2005)}}
{{Infobox economist
| name = Pietro Balestra
| school_tradition =
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| image =
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|4|2}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|6|23|1935|4|13}}
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| nationality = Swiss
| institution = University of Geneva
University of Fribourg
University of Lugano
University of Dijon
| field = Econometrics
| alma_mater = Stanford University (Ph.D., 1965)
| doctoral_advisor = Marc Nerlove
| doctoral_students=
| contributions = the econometrics of panel data
| signature =
}}
Pietro Balestra (April 2, 1935 – June 23, 2005) was a Swiss economist specializing in econometrics.{{cite book |first=Mauro L. |last=Baranzini |chapter=Balestra's Contribution in the Field of Economic Growth, Income Distribution and Capital Accumulation |pages=293–315 |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Krishnakumar |editor2-first=E. |editor2-last=Ronchetti |title=Panel Data Econometrics: Future Directions, Papers in Honour of Professor Pietro Balestra |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam |year=2000 |isbn=0-444-50237-8 }} He was born in Lugano and earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Fribourg. Balestra moved for graduate work to the University of Kansas (M.A in Economics) and Stanford University. He was awarded the Ph.D. in Economics by Stanford University in 1965.
Balestra returned to Switzerland as Professor of Economics and Econometrics at the University of Fribourg. He was also Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Dijon. In 1980 he was called to chair the Department of Econometrics at the University of Geneva.
Balestra continued to be active in his retirement years. He taught at the University of Lugano until his death.
Balestra his noted for his contributions to the econometrics of dynamic error components models, in particular for the generalized least squares estimator known as the Balestra–Nerlove estimator.See, for example, {{cite journal |first1=J. A. |last1=Hausman |first2=W. E. |last2=Taylor |title=Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects |journal=Econometrica |year=1981 |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=1377–1398 |jstor=1911406 |doi=10.2307/1911406|hdl=1721.1/64044 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |first1=Ariane |last1=Dupont-Kieffer |first2=Alain |last2=Pirotte |title=The Early Years of Panel Data Econometrics |journal=History of Political Economy |year=2011 |volume=43 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=258–282 |doi=10.1215/00182702-1158754 }} Balestra was one of the initiators of the foundation of the University of Lugano. His outside connections were critical in gathering support from the Swiss science council.See Corriere del Ticino, June 24, 2005 He was the first dean of the faculty of economics.
As the first treasurer of the European Economic Association, Balestra was instrumental in gathering financial support for this Pan-European scientific society.
Honours
- Fellow the Econometric Society [https://www.econometricsociety.org/society/organization-and-governance/fellows/memoriam Econometric Society, in Memoriam]
- Fellow of the Journal of Econometrics
- President of the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics
Major publications
- {{cite journal |title=Pooling Cross-Section and Time Series Data in the Estimation of Dynamic Models: The Demand for Natural Gas |journal=Econometrica |date=July 1966 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=585–612 |jstor=1909771 |doi=10.2307/1909771|last1=Balestra |first1=Pietro |last2=Nerlove |first2=Marc }}
- {{cite book |title=The Demand for Natural Gas in the United States. A Dynamic Approach for the Residential and Commercial Market |location=Amsterdam |year=1967 }}
- {{cite journal |title=On the Efficiency of Ordinary Least Squares in Regression Models |journal=Journal of the American Economic Association |date=September 1970 }}
- {{cite journal |title=Some Optimal Aspects in a Two Class Growth Model with a Differentiated Interest Rate |others=(with Mauro Baranzini) |journal=Kyklos |volume=2 |year=1971 }}
- {{cite book |title=Calcul Matriciel pour Economistes |location=Albeuve |year=1972 }}
- {{cite journal |title=Best Quadratic Unbiased Estimators of the Variance-Covariance Matrix in Normal Regression |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=March 1973 }}
- {{cite book |title=La derivation matricielle |location=Paris |year=1976 }}
- {{cite journal |title=A Note on the Exact Transformation Associated with the First Order Moving Average Process |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=December 1980 }}
- {{cite journal |title=A Note on Amemiya's Partially Generalised Least Squares |journal=Journal of Econometrics |volume=23 |year=1983 }}
- {{cite journal |title=Full Information Estimation of a System of Simultaneous Equations with Error Component Structure |others=(with J. Varadharajan-Krishnakumar) |journal=Econometric Theory |volume=3 |issue= 2|pages= 223–246|year=1987 |doi=10.1017/s0266466600010318|url=https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:41658/ATTACHMENT01|last1=Balestra |first1=Pietro |last2=Varadharajan-Krishnakumar |first2=Jayalakshmi |s2cid=73522268 }}
- {{cite journal |title=Optimal Experimental Design for Error Components Models |others=(with Dennis Aigner) |journal=Econometrica |volume=56 |issue=4 |year=1988 | doi=10.2307/1912706 |pages=955–971|jstor=1912706 |last1=Aigner |first1=Dennis J. |last2=Balestra |first2=Pietro }}
- {{cite book |chapter=Formulation and Estimation of Econometric Models for Panel Data |others=(with Marc Nerlove) |title=The Econometrics of Panel Data |editor-first=L. |editor-last=Matyas |editor2-first=P. |editor2-last=Sevestre |location=Amsterdam |year=1992 }}
References
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Category:University of Kansas alumni
Category:Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Geneva
Category:Academic staff of the Università della Svizzera italiana