Anton Julius (Ton) Butter (10 January 1920 – 1989[1]) was a Dutch economist, Associate Professor the Department of Economics of the University of Amsterdam and deputy director of SEO Economic Research.
[2] Butter was born in Amsterdam and received his MA in economics at the University of Amsterdam, where he started working as research assistant, and later assistant professor and associate professor at the Department of Economics.
In 1979 Butter received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam under supervision of Jan Lambooy with a thesis entitled "Wat heet onafhankelijk?
: Aspects of foreign trade of the Netherlands Antilles in relation to the issues of economic, social and political development).
[4] He is credited as "keen and level-headed observer of the Dutch Caribbean scene, his mind uncluttered by sociological preconception, yet open to social peculiarity inherent in the region".