G. Warren Nutter
Encyclopedia
G. Warren Nutter was a U.S.
economist
, known primarily for his work on political economy
, industrial concentration, price theory, and Soviet economic history, and for co-founding the "Virginia school of political economy
".
, Kansas
, under the given name Gilbert Warren Nutter. He is usually formally referred to as G. Warren Nutter and often casually referred to as Warren or Warren Nutter, because he preferred to be addressed by his middle name, Warren.
Warren eventually settled in Chicago, Illinois
where his education at the University of Chicago
was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army infantry in the European Theatre in World War II
. He earned the Bronze Star
with oak leaf cluster
(which means that he received the Bronze Star twice) and the Combat Infantryman Badge
. After serving in U.S. Army Intelligence after the fall of Nazi Germany, he returned to finish his studies at the University of Chicago where he earned his B.A.
(1946), M.A.
(1948), and Ph.D.
(1949) in economics
, which he studied with Milton Friedman
and Frank Knight
.
While finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, he lectured in Economics and German at Lawrence College (now Lawrence University
) in Appleton
, Wisconsin
. He later was an Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University
(1950–1956), then Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia
(1956–1979) until his death after a prolonged bout with colon and liver cancer in 1979.
His academic career was twice more interrupted by public service. First, in 1951 during the Korean War
, Nutter was called to duty from the U.S. Army Reserves; he served in the Central Intelligence Agency
. Later, from 1969–1973, he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the first administration of President Richard M. Nixon.
. He was also active in academic exchange between the East and West blocs during the Cold War
.
His doctoral dissertation published in 1949, and later reworked and republished as Enterprise Monopoly In The United States: 1899-1958 (1969, Columbia University Press) authored with Henry Einhorn, attacked the prevailing notion that US industry trended toward increased concentration except when government regulation intervened to prevent concentration. Nutter's work showed that, on the contrary, government intervention over the long run can tend to increase rather than lessen industrial concentration.
From 1956 to 1961, under the sponsorship of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Nutter undertook a massive study of the history of the economy of the Soviet Union
culminating in the publication of The Growth of Industrial Production in the Soviet Union, 1962, Princeton University
Press. His extensively documented study attempted to correct the widely-held view that Soviet industrial production had grown at a pace much greater than that of Western economies. The study concluded that Soviet economic growth over the first half of the 20th Century was indeed remarkable, and that there had been periods of growth spurts which, taken out of historical context, might suggest that the Soviet Union would eventually overtake the United States in economic capacity. But when the entire Soviet period was taken into consideration, Soviet growth lagged behind Western economies and Soviet economic capacity showed every sign of falling further behind rather than catching up with the West. At the time of its publication, the study's conclusions were not highly regarded by many Sovietologists who held that Soviet growth rates were much higher than those represented by the study. In the intervening years, as the fall of the Soviet Union revealed more realistic data, Nutter's estimates of Soviet growth rates have been vindicated; in fact, if anything Nutter overstated rather than understated Soviet economic performance.
He and James M. Buchanan
are credited with founding the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy whose objective was to focus on the study of political economy
, by which was understood the study not just of the technical aspects of economics, but also of the philosophical foundations of social organization and economic activity. The Center sponsored and funded a wide array of academic studies and interaction aimed at better understanding the role of the fundamental ideas of Western civilization as the foundation for free societies and economies.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Nutter and Buchanan together worked to build within the Economics Department of the University of Virginia
, the so-called Virginia school of political economy
. The department attracted a number of prominent academics including Ronald Coase
, Gordon Tullock
, Alexandre Kafka
, George Stigler
, and Leland B. Yeager
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
economist
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, known primarily for his work on political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, industrial concentration, price theory, and Soviet economic history, and for co-founding the "Virginia school of political economy
Virginia school of political economy
The Virginia school of political economy is a term applied to a school of economic thought centred on universities in Virginia, most notably George Mason University, Virginia Tech, Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia, and mainly focusing on public choice theory and law and...
".
Biography
Nutter was born in TopekaTopeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, under the given name Gilbert Warren Nutter. He is usually formally referred to as G. Warren Nutter and often casually referred to as Warren or Warren Nutter, because he preferred to be addressed by his middle name, Warren.
Warren eventually settled in Chicago, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
where his education at 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...
was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army infantry in the European Theatre in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He earned the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
with oak leaf cluster
Oak leaf cluster
An oak leaf cluster is a common device which is placed on U.S. Army and Air Force awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the number of subsequent awards of the decoration...
(which means that he received the Bronze Star twice) and the Combat Infantryman Badge
Combat Infantryman Badge
The Combat Infantryman Badge is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size...
. After serving in U.S. Army Intelligence after the fall of Nazi Germany, he returned to finish his studies at the University of Chicago where he earned his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(1946), M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(1948), and Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
(1949) in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, which he studied with Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
and Frank Knight
Frank Knight
Frank Hyneman Knight was an American economist who spent most of his career at the University of Chicago, where he became one of the founders of the Chicago school. Nobel laureates James M. Buchanan, Milton Friedman and George Stigler were all students of Knight at Chicago. Knight supervised...
.
While finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, he lectured in Economics and German at Lawrence College (now Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
) in Appleton
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. He later was an Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1950–1956), then Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
(1956–1979) until his death after a prolonged bout with colon and liver cancer in 1979.
His academic career was twice more interrupted by public service. First, in 1951 during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, Nutter was called to duty from the U.S. Army Reserves; he served in the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
. Later, from 1969–1973, he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the first administration of President Richard M. Nixon.
Academic contributions
Nutter made significant contributions to both technical and political-economic literature. His areas of research interest and contribution included industrial concentration, Soviet economic history, price theory and political economyPolitical economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
. He was also active in academic exchange between the East and West blocs during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
His doctoral dissertation published in 1949, and later reworked and republished as Enterprise Monopoly In The United States: 1899-1958 (1969, Columbia University Press) authored with Henry Einhorn, attacked the prevailing notion that US industry trended toward increased concentration except when government regulation intervened to prevent concentration. Nutter's work showed that, on the contrary, government intervention over the long run can tend to increase rather than lessen industrial concentration.
From 1956 to 1961, under the sponsorship of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Nutter undertook a massive study of the history of the economy of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
culminating in the publication of The Growth of Industrial Production in the Soviet Union, 1962, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
Press. His extensively documented study attempted to correct the widely-held view that Soviet industrial production had grown at a pace much greater than that of Western economies. The study concluded that Soviet economic growth over the first half of the 20th Century was indeed remarkable, and that there had been periods of growth spurts which, taken out of historical context, might suggest that the Soviet Union would eventually overtake the United States in economic capacity. But when the entire Soviet period was taken into consideration, Soviet growth lagged behind Western economies and Soviet economic capacity showed every sign of falling further behind rather than catching up with the West. At the time of its publication, the study's conclusions were not highly regarded by many Sovietologists who held that Soviet growth rates were much higher than those represented by the study. In the intervening years, as the fall of the Soviet Union revealed more realistic data, Nutter's estimates of Soviet growth rates have been vindicated; in fact, if anything Nutter overstated rather than understated Soviet economic performance.
He and James M. Buchanan
James M. Buchanan
James McGill Buchanan, Jr. is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy...
are credited with founding the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy whose objective was to focus on the study of political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, by which was understood the study not just of the technical aspects of economics, but also of the philosophical foundations of social organization and economic activity. The Center sponsored and funded a wide array of academic studies and interaction aimed at better understanding the role of the fundamental ideas of Western civilization as the foundation for free societies and economies.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Nutter and Buchanan together worked to build within the Economics Department of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, the so-called Virginia school of political economy
Virginia school of political economy
The Virginia school of political economy is a term applied to a school of economic thought centred on universities in Virginia, most notably George Mason University, Virginia Tech, Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia, and mainly focusing on public choice theory and law and...
. The department attracted a number of prominent academics including Ronald Coase
Ronald Coase
Ronald Harry Coase is a British-born, American-based economist and the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School. After studying with the University of London External Programme in 1927–29, Coase entered the London School of Economics, where he took...
, Gordon Tullock
Gordon Tullock
Gordon Tullock is an economist and retired Professor of Law and Economics at the George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on public choice theory, the application of economic thinking to political issues...
, Alexandre Kafka
Alexandre Kafka
Alexandre Kafka was an international economist mainly known for his work as an Executive Director in the International Monetary Fund .- Biography :...
, George Stigler
George Stigler
George Joseph Stigler was a U.S. economist. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1982, and was a key leader of the Chicago School of Economics, along with his close friend Milton Friedman....
, and Leland B. Yeager
Leland B. Yeager
Leland B. Yeager is an American economist and an expert on monetary policy and international trade. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1948 with an A.B. and was granted an M.A. from Columbia University in 1949 and a Ph.D. from there in 1952. He had previously served in the United States Army in...
.