Makower, Helen (1910–1998)

Abstract

Helen Makower was educated at Cambridge and obtained her doctorate from London University. From 1938 until her retirement in 1973 she taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In collaboration with Jacob Marschak she made a pioneering contribution to modern asset portfolio theory and to the study of labour mobility. After the Second World War her analytical insights and interest in work then being performed at the Cowles Commission in Chicago led to her being one of the important links through which such techniques as activity analysis entered the academic scene in Britain. Her 1957 book and other papers made original contributions to the application of linear methods in economic analysis. One of her important insights was into the analogy between production and consumption, a precursor of later work on the household production and characteristics approaches to consumer theory.