Clark, Colin Grant (1905–1989)

Abstract

Colin Clark, one of the most fertile minds in 20th-century applied economics, was born in London. After graduating in chemistry at Oxford University in 1924, he worked as assistant to W.H. Beveridge, Allyn Young and A.M. Carr-Saunders, stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in the May 1929 general election, then joined the staff of the Economic Advisory Council, recently set up by Ramsay MacDonald, of which Keynes was a member. In 1931, rather than agree to write a protectionist manifesto for MacDonald, he accepted an appointment as lecturer in statistics at Cambridge, where he remained until, in 1937, he went to Melbourne University, initially as visiting lecturer. In Australia he occupied government posts, chiefly as economic adviser to the state government of Queensland, until 1952. After spells as visiting professor at the University of Chicago and as Director of the Oxford Institute of Agricultural Economics, he returned to Australia in 1968. He remained active as a research consultant at the University of Queensland.