I whanau a Douglass North i Cambridge, Massachusetts, i te Noema 5, 1920. He maha nga wa i neke ai ia i a ia e tamariki ana na te mahi a tona papa i MetLife. I noho te whanau ki Ottawa, Lausanne, New York City, me Wallingford, Connecticut. I whakaakona a North i te Whare Wananga o Ashbury i Ottawa, Ontario me te Kura Choate i Wallingford, Connecticut. I whakaaetia ia ki Harvard i te wa ano i riro ai tona papa hei upoko o MetLife i te takutai hauauru, no reira ka kowhiri a North ki te haere ki te Whare Wananga o California, Berkeley. I te 1942, i tohu ia i te BA i roto i te General Curriculum-Humanities. Ahakoa he pai ake i te toharite o te "C", i tutuki i a ia te tohu nui e toru i roto i te putaiao torangapu, whakaaro me te ohanga.
Te Whare Wānanga o California, Berkeley