Eulogy for Professor Murray C Kemp
Emeritus Professor Murray Chilvers Kemp (UNSW Sydney) AO (1926–2021)
Professor M.C. Kemp was born in Melbourne in 1926 and obtained his Bec (1st class honour), BA and MEc from University of Melbourne, and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. After teaching at McGill and MIT, he returned to Australia to take up a chair at University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1961. He then held the unique Research Chair at UNSW from 1963 to 2001. Following his ‘compulsory’ retirement in 2001, he spent another 12 years at UNSW and almost four years at Macquarie University. During his academic tenure, he held many distinguished visiting positions at leading universities around the world.
Professor Kemp was widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost economic theorists of our time. In a distinguished academic career spanning almost seven decades, he made fundamental contributions to the theory of international trade, welfare economics, and exhaustible resources. He was a prolific researcher, having authored/co-authored 20 books and over 300 journal articles and book chapters, including publications in every leading economics journal – Econometrica, American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of International Economics and International Economic Review. His famous 1964 textbook, The Pure Theory of International Trade and Investment, was used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the developed world for over two decades.
His contributions to economics were recognised through his election as a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1971, and as the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Prize (1987), Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia (1989), as well as five honorary doctorates from universities around the globe. He was made Officer in the Order of Australia in 2014 for “distinguished service to education as an economic theorist and academic, to international trade, through contributions to leading professional publications, and as a mentor.”
Professor Kemp passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, in Sydney on 5 September 2021. He is survived by his children, his children in law and grandchildren.
Ten years ago, the International Journal of Development and Conflict published a special issue (volume 1, number 3) to honour the occasion of Professor Kemp’s 85th birthday. To commemorate his passing, we have invited Professor Henry Wan Jr. (Cornell University), widely considered as Professor’s Kemp most significant co-author, to write a eulogy.
His eulogy is available here.
Emeritus Professor Murray Chilvers Kemp (UNSW Sydney) AO (1926–2021)
Professor M.C. Kemp was born in Melbourne in 1926 and obtained his Bec (1st class honour), BA and MEc from University of Melbourne, and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. After teaching at McGill and MIT, he returned to Australia to take up a chair at University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1961. He then held the unique Research Chair at UNSW from 1963 to 2001. Following his ‘compulsory’ retirement in 2001, he spent another 12 years at UNSW and almost four years at Macquarie University. During his academic tenure, he held many distinguished visiting positions at leading universities around the world.
Professor Kemp was widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost economic theorists of our time. In a distinguished academic career spanning almost seven decades, he made fundamental contributions to the theory of international trade, welfare economics, and exhaustible resources. He was a prolific researcher, having authored/co-authored 20 books and over 300 journal articles and book chapters, including publications in every leading economics journal – Econometrica, American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of International Economics and International Economic Review. His famous 1964 textbook, The Pure Theory of International Trade and Investment, was used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the developed world for over two decades.
His contributions to economics were recognised through his election as a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1971, and as the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Prize (1987), Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia (1989), as well as five honorary doctorates from universities around the globe. He was made Officer in the Order of Australia in 2014 for “distinguished service to education as an economic theorist and academic, to international trade, through contributions to leading professional publications, and as a mentor.”
Professor Kemp passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, in Sydney on 5 September 2021. He is survived by his children, his children in law and grandchildren.
Ten years ago, the International Journal of Development and Conflict published a special issue (volume 1, number 3) to honour the occasion of Professor Kemp’s 85th birthday. To commemorate his passing, we have invited Professor Henry Wan Jr. (Cornell University), widely considered as Professor’s Kemp most significant co-author, to write a eulogy.
His eulogy is available here.