Allyn Abbott Young
Encyclopedia
Allyn Abbott Young was a celebrated American
economist
. He was born into a middle-class family in Kenton, Ohio
on September 19, 1876 and died aged 52 in London on March 7, 1929, his life cut short by pneumonia
during an influenza epidemic. He was then at the height of his intellectual powers and current president of Section F of the British Association. Uniquely, Young had also been president of the American Statistical Association
(1917) and the American Economic Association
(1925).
As documented in a 1995 biography by Charles Blitch, Young was a brilliant student, graduating from Hiram College
in 1894 at the age of sixteen, the youngest graduate on record. After a few years in the printing trade he enrolled in 1898 in the graduate school of the University of Wisconsin where he studied economics under Richard T. Ely
and William A. Scott, history under Charles H. Haskins and Frederick Jackson Turner, and statistics under Edward D. Jones. In 1900 he was engaged for a year as an assistant in the United States Bureau of the Census in Washington DC where he established lifelong friendships with Walter F. Willcox, Wesley C. Mitchell and Thomas S. Adams.
Young returned to the University of Wisconsin as Instructor in Economics for the 1901–02 academic session and graduated there in 1902 with a doctoral dissertation on Age Statistics. He then embarked on what Blitch has called a peripatetic academic career, beginning with posts at Western Reserve University, 1902–04; Dartmouth, 1904–05; and Wisconsin, 1905–06. He was then head of the economics department at the University of Stanford, 1906–10, followed by a year at Harvard as visitor, 1910–11, and two years at Washington University, St Louis, 1911–13. From 1913 to 1920 he was professor at Cornell University
, but war took him to Washington DC in 1917 to direct the Bureau of Statistical Research for the War Trade Board, and to New York
in 1918 to head the economics division of a group known as "The Enquiry" under Colonel Edward M. House
, the group charged with laying the groundwork for the Paris Peace Conference
.
After the war, Young moved to Harvard in 1920 where he stayed until 1927 when he accepted William Beveridge
's offer of the chair vacated by Edwin Cannan
at the London School of Economics
. He intended remaining at the LSE for three years before returning to Harvard. In December 1928 he traveled to the University of Chicago
to explain in person why he felt unable to accept their invitation to be chairman of their economics department. It was shortly after his return to London that he succumbed to the fateful influenza epidemic.
At the time of his death T. E. Gregory, a colleague at the LSE, wrote that Young had recently "begun work on a systematic treatise on economic theory and had resumed the writing of the work upon monetary theory
which he had begun at Harvard." He continued:
In 1971 Nobel Laureate Bertil Ohlin
, who attended a course of Young's at Harvard in 1922–23, wrote to Young's biographer:
Young's other famous students, strongly influenced by him, included Frank H. Knight, Edward Chamberlin
, Nicholas Kaldor
and Lauchlin Currie
. He was also an influential adviser in the 1920s to Benjamin Strong, governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
. Much of his writing was published anonymously and posthumously in encyclopedias, but rescued from oblivion in a volume edited by Perry Mehrling and Roger Sandilands (1999).
His best-known single paper was his presidential address to the British Association in September 1928 on "Increasing returns and economic progress". Nicholas Kaldor
insisted that this paper had been neglected because it was 50 years ahead of his time, but it has recently enjoyed a revival of interest as an acknowledged forerunner of modern "endogenous growth theory
".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
. He was born into a middle-class family in Kenton, Ohio
Kenton, Ohio
Kenton is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Ohio, United States, along the Scioto River. The population was 8,262 at the 2010 census. It is named for Kentucky/Ohio frontiersman, Simon Kenton...
on September 19, 1876 and died aged 52 in London on March 7, 1929, his life cut short by pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
during an influenza epidemic. He was then at the height of his intellectual powers and current president of Section F of the British Association. Uniquely, Young had also been president of the American Statistical Association
President of the American Statistical Association
The President of the American Statistical Association is the head of the American Statistical Association . According to the association's bylaws, the president is an officer, and a member of the board of directors and of the executive committee. Elections for the position are held annually, in...
(1917) and the American Economic Association
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...
(1925).
As documented in a 1995 biography by Charles Blitch, Young was a brilliant student, graduating from Hiram College
Hiram College
Hiram College is a private liberal arts college located in Hiram, Ohio. Founded by Amos Sutton Hayden of the Disciples of Christ Church in 1850, the institution has, since its first days, been nonsectarian and coeducational, and throughout its existence Hiram College has sustained this egalitarian...
in 1894 at the age of sixteen, the youngest graduate on record. After a few years in the printing trade he enrolled in 1898 in the graduate school of the University of Wisconsin where he studied economics under Richard T. Ely
Richard T. Ely
Richard Theodore Ely was an American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement who called for more government intervention in order to reform what they perceived as the injustices of capitalism, especially regarding factory conditions, compulsory education, child labor, and labor...
and William A. Scott, history under Charles H. Haskins and Frederick Jackson Turner, and statistics under Edward D. Jones. In 1900 he was engaged for a year as an assistant in the United States Bureau of the Census in Washington DC where he established lifelong friendships with Walter F. Willcox, Wesley C. Mitchell and Thomas S. Adams.
Young returned to the University of Wisconsin as Instructor in Economics for the 1901–02 academic session and graduated there in 1902 with a doctoral dissertation on Age Statistics. He then embarked on what Blitch has called a peripatetic academic career, beginning with posts at Western Reserve University, 1902–04; Dartmouth, 1904–05; and Wisconsin, 1905–06. He was then head of the economics department at the University of Stanford, 1906–10, followed by a year at Harvard as visitor, 1910–11, and two years at Washington University, St Louis, 1911–13. From 1913 to 1920 he was professor at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, but war took him to Washington DC in 1917 to direct the Bureau of Statistical Research for the War Trade Board, and to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1918 to head the economics division of a group known as "The Enquiry" under Colonel Edward M. House
Edward M. House
Edward Mandell House was an American diplomat, politician, and presidential advisor. Commonly known by the title of Colonel House, although he had no military experience, he had enormous personal influence with U.S...
, the group charged with laying the groundwork for the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
.
After the war, Young moved to Harvard in 1920 where he stayed until 1927 when he accepted William Beveridge
William Beveridge
William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge KCB was a British economist and social reformer. He is best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services which served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state put in place by the Labour government elected in 1945.Lord...
's offer of the chair vacated by Edwin Cannan
Edwin Cannan
Edwin Cannan was a British economist and historian of economic thought. He was a professor at the London School of Economics from 1895 to 1926....
at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He intended remaining at the LSE for three years before returning to Harvard. In December 1928 he traveled to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
to explain in person why he felt unable to accept their invitation to be chairman of their economics department. It was shortly after his return to London that he succumbed to the fateful influenza epidemic.
At the time of his death T. E. Gregory, a colleague at the LSE, wrote that Young had recently "begun work on a systematic treatise on economic theory and had resumed the writing of the work upon monetary theory
Monetary theory
Monetary economics is a branch of economics that historically prefigured and remains integrally linked to macroeconomics. Monetary economics provides a framework for analyzing money in its functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. It considers how money, for example...
which he had begun at Harvard." He continued:
- A passion for thoroughness would drive him on to explore every inch of the field in which he was for the time interested: he was always convinced that economic truth was not the monopoly of a single school or way of thinking, and that the first duty of a teacher and thinker was to see the strong points in every presentation of a point of view. Such an attitude of mind, combined with great personal modesty, made for unsystematic writing: for scattered papers and articles and not for a comprehensive treatise. In many respects he resembled EdgeworthFrancis Ysidro EdgeworthFrancis Ysidro Edgeworth FBA was an Irish philosopher and political economist who made significant contributions to the methods of statistics during the 1880s...
, for whose work he felt a growing admiration; and if Young's work is ever collected, it will be seen that, like Edgeworth's, it amounts in sum to a very considerable and impressive achievement.
In 1971 Nobel Laureate Bertil Ohlin
Bertil Ohlin
Bertil Gotthard Ohlin was a Swedish economist and politician. He was a professor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics from 1929 to 1965. He was also leader of the People's Party, a social-liberal party which at the time was the largest party in opposition to the governing Social...
, who attended a course of Young's at Harvard in 1922–23, wrote to Young's biographer:
- I am inclined to believe that he was a man, who knew and thoroughly understood his subject — economics — better than anyone else I have met. I tested him by means of a question about the "Wicksell effectWicksell effectThe Wicksell effect is the combination of a price effect and a real effect on the valuation of changes in the capital stock. An important implication of the effect is that the valuation of the capital stock is extremely problematic in all realistic situations. The price effect involves a...
", i.e. the special aspects of the marginal productivity of capital, which at that time was practically unknown in most countries outside of Scandinavia. He immediately gave a fine account in a five minutes speech before the students. What characterizes Allyn Young as an economist was that he had deep understanding of all fields of economic theory while other economists knew well one third of the theory and had only superficial knowledge of the rest.
Young's other famous students, strongly influenced by him, included Frank H. Knight, Edward Chamberlin
Edward Chamberlin
Edward Hastings Chamberlin was an American economist. He was born in La Conner, Washington.Chamberlin studied first at the University of Iowa , then pursued graduate-level studies at the University of Michigan, eventually receiving his Ph.D...
, Nicholas Kaldor
Nicholas Kaldor
Nicholas Kaldor, Baron Kaldor was one of the foremost Cambridge economists in the post-war period...
and Lauchlin Currie
Lauchlin Currie
Lauchlin Bernard Currie was a Canadian-born U.S.economist from New Dublin, Nova Scotia, Canada, and allegedly an agent of espionage for the Soviet Union....
. He was also an influential adviser in the 1920s to Benjamin Strong, governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
. Much of his writing was published anonymously and posthumously in encyclopedias, but rescued from oblivion in a volume edited by Perry Mehrling and Roger Sandilands (1999).
His best-known single paper was his presidential address to the British Association in September 1928 on "Increasing returns and economic progress". Nicholas Kaldor
Nicholas Kaldor
Nicholas Kaldor, Baron Kaldor was one of the foremost Cambridge economists in the post-war period...
insisted that this paper had been neglected because it was 50 years ahead of his time, but it has recently enjoyed a revival of interest as an acknowledged forerunner of modern "endogenous growth theory
Endogenous growth theory
Endogenous growth theory holds that economic growth is primarily the result of endogenous and not external force. In Endogenous growth theory investment in human capital, innovation and knowledge are significant contributors to economic growth. The theory also focus on positive externalities and...
".