The History of Economics Society is delighted to announce the winner of 
this year's Joseph J. Spengler Best Book Prize.

The Spengler committee, consisting of Laurie Bréban, José Luis Cardoso 
(chair) and Till Düppe, decided to award the 2022 prize to Erwin Dekker 
for his book _Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) and the Rise of Economic 
Expertise _(Cambridge University Press, 2021)_._

Dekker has written an excellent book presenting an innovative approach 
to Jan Tinbergen's life and work. The book combines detailed and new 
knowledge of Tinbergen's personality and values with a rigorous account 
of the development of his theories, his methodological contributions, 
and his profile as a scientific expert in the political arena. The 
exploration of rich archival materials is accompanied with oral history 
testimonies from students and family that engage the reader in a 
well-balanced narrative of personal and professional events throughout a 
lively career taking place in very different geographical and 
institutional settings of a struggled 20th century.

The committee appreciated the emphasis given to the impact of 
Tinbergen's mastering of economic expertise that might be the most 
relevant outcome of Dekker's book. His descriptions of the technical 
elements of the pioneering work of Jan Tinbergen in model building and 
econometric analysis are accessible also for the reader generally 
interested in the history of economics. And yet, the book provides a 
powerful intellectual and institutional contextualization of the 
conceptual structure underlying the design of economic policies and the 
appropriate instruments and targets for long-term economic planning. 
Dekker also offers new insights into Tinbergen's vision of an idealized 
world of an optimal economic order, where peace should prevail, and 
social harmony should be obtained.

_Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise_ is an 
outstanding book that makes the finest history of 20th century economics 
readable and attractive to many readers also outside our own profession. 
It undoubtedly represents a great research achievement and a 
ground-breaking contribution to both the history of economic expertise 
and the expertise of the history of economics.

Previous award winners can be found on the HES website at:
https://historyofeconomics.org/awards-and-honors/spengler-book-prize/ 
[1]

-- 
Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak
Secretary, History of Economics Society
Associate Professor, The American University of Paris

Links:
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[1] https://historyofeconomics.org/awards-and-honors/best-article-prize/