Erling Dekke Næss was born in Bergen, Norway and was son of Ragnar Næss, a businessman and banker. He had two brothers, the younger being the well-known philosopher Arne Næss. The family moved to Kristiania in 1911 were his father died in 1913. The family seems to have been well off, although in no way affluent. Næss studied economy at the Royal Frederick University and earned a B.S. in 1920, achieved mostly by studying on his own. He contemplated continued studies and travelled to Britain to finish a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics