john richard hicks was a british neo keynesian economist hicks was born in the united kingdom in 1904 and studied at oxford university where he also lectured during his career hicks became well known for his contributions to labor economics utility and price theory macroeconomics and welfare economics he received the 1972 nobel memorial prize in economics sharing it with kenneth arrow for their advancement of general equilibrium theory and welfare theory 
investopedia alison czinkotaearly life and educationjohn r hicks was born in the united kingdom in warwick on april 8 1904 he studied at clifton college and oxford university between 1917 and 1926 where he focused on economics math philosophy and politics 1after graduating he lectured at the london school of economics and political science from 1926 to 1935 he also taught at cambridge university and the university of manchester before returning to oxford in 1946 21hicks married fellow economist ursula webb in 1935 the couple had no children he was knighted in 1964 for his work in economics and was awarded the nobel prize in 1972 hicks died on may 20 1989 1hicks wife ursula webb was one of the founders of the review of economic studies the academic journal was established in 1933 for young economists 3notable accomplishmentshicks made several important contributions to economic theory during his career these contributions ranged from fundamental neoclassical price theory to macroeconomic modeling hicks was awarded the nobel prize in 1972 he shared the honor with kenneth j arrow another neoclassical economist their work on general equilibrium analysis and welfare economics earned them the award before he was awarded the nobel prize hicks was knighted in 1964 he also received a number of honorary doctorate degrees from several universities in the u k 1hicks first book theory of wages developed the microeconomics of wage determination in competitive and regulated labor markets in this work he introduced the concept of elasticity of substitution between capital and labor which became his basis to dispute karl marx s theory by arguing that labor saving technological progress does not necessarily reduce labor s share of income this book became a standard textbook on labor economics for decades in his early papers and his second book value and capital he advanced the utility and price theory with his introduction of the hicksian compensated demand curve he also explored the concept of composite goods to simplify demand modeling along with the exploration of the income effect and substitution effect hicks also advanced the microeconomic analysis of interactions in value and capital between markets by formalizing a model of comparative statics and introduced walrasian general equilibrium theory to the english speaking world these models show how changes in markets impact conditions in other markets and how all the individual markets in an economy interact to yield an overall equilibrium for all markets hicks is well known for making four major contributions to the field of economics his first is the elasticity of substitution it was used to demonstrate how labor saving processes don t have a direct impact on the reduction of the share of national income hicks is lm model formalized keynesian macroeconomic theory to show how an economy can be in equilibrium with less than full employment the is lm model depicts macroeconomic equilibrium as a product of the interaction of financial markets and real goods markets this model is a common classroom tool in macroeconomics and is sometimes used to assess macroeconomic stabilization policies as well as economic fluctuations his book value and capital which was published in 1939 is generally considered his third major accomplishment in economics the hicksian price and utility models he introduced in the book mathematically demonstrate how consumer preferences price changes and income interact to shape demand for goods and are still used as foundational elements of price theory in microeconomics in welfare economics hicks is well known for his hicks compensation principle also known as hicks efficiency this concept can be used as a criterion to judge the costs and benefits of changes to the economy and economic policy by comparing the losses for the losers with the gains for the winners 