Theodore Otte Yntema (1900 – September 18, 1985) was an American economist specialing in the field of quantitative analysis in finance.
Yntema graduated summa cum laude in 1921 from Hope College as valedictorian. He received his master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1922. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1929. Theodore O. Yntema became the director of research of the Cowles Commission at the time of its move to Chicago in September 1939. He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1923, and was professor of statistics in the School of Business, 1930–44, and professor of business and economic policy, 1944–49. Since 1940 Yntema was a director of the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 1949 he join the Finance department at Ford Motor Company, where he eventually became chairman of the board of Ford Motor Credit.
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business established the Theodore O. Yntema Professorship in 1973.[1]