Douglass North akaberekerwa muCambridge, Massachusetts, musi waNovember 5, 1920. Akatama kakawanda semwana nekuda kwebasa rababa vake paMetLife. Mhuri yaigara muOttawa, Lausanne, New York City, uye Wallingford, Connecticut. North akadzidziswa kuAshbury College muOttawa, Ontario uye Chikoro cheChoate muWallingford, Connecticut. Akagamuchirwa kuHarvard panguva imwechete iyo baba vake vakava mutungamiri weMetLife kumadokero kwemahombekombe, saka North akasarudza kuenda kuYunivhesiti yeCalifornia, Berkeley. Muna 1942, akapedza B.A. muGeneral Curriculum-Humanities. Kunyange zvazvo mamakisi ake akaenzana zvishoma nani pane "C" avhareji, akakwanisa kupedzisa katatu makuru mune zvematongerwo enyika, uzivi uye hupfumi.
Yunivhesiti yeCalifornia, Berkeley