Frank William Taussig

Frank William Taussig (1859 - 1940) was a U.S. economist and educator, born in St. Louis.

He graduated from Harvard in 1879, taught there for ten years, became professor of economics in 1892, and remained at Harvard as a professor of economics. Taussig is credited with creating the foundations of modern International trade theory.

Life and work

Frank Taussig was a student and later colleague of Charles Dunbar at Harvard. He has come be regarded as the "American Marshall", not only for his affinity to the doctrines of Alfred Marshall, but also for his highly influential role in American economics. Taussig's prime position at Harvard, his famous 1911 textbook and his control of the Quarterly Journal of Economics helped spread his version of Cambridge Neoclassicism throughout the United States. Taussig was an opponent of the idea of a "Marginalist Revolution", stressing instead the congruity of Classical and Neoclassical economics. His 1896 attempt to resurrect the defunct "wage-fund" doctrine stands as an example of this. Although sympathetic to some Austrian principles - notably Böhm-Bawerk's theory of capital -- Taussig was otherwise generally opposed to radical, high-theory Marginalism as well as American Institutionalism.

Most of Taussig's contributions to economics have been on International trade theory, particularly on the issue of tariffs, on which he was the foremost authority. He was a lukewarm free-trader, but his anti-union and monometallist positions set him out as a relatively conservative economist. With brief interruptions (notably, to serve as advisor to Woodrow Wilson's government in 1917-9), Taussig held his powerful Harvard pulpit 1885 until 1935, when that chair was handed over to his more colorful successor, Joseph Schumpeter.

He was the editor of the "Quarterly Journal of Economics" from 1889 to 1890 and from 1896 to 1935; president of the American Economic Association in 1904 and 1905; and chairperson of the United States Tariff Commission from 1917 to 1919.

Taussig is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Major publications

*"The Protection to Young Industries", 1883.
*"The History of the Present Tariff, 1860-1883", 1886.
*"The Tariff History of the United States", 1888.
*"Some Aspects of the Tariff Question", 1889, "QJE".
*"The Silver Situation in the United States", 1891.
*"The Interpretation of Ricardo", 1893, "AER".
*"Value and Distribution as Seen by Mr. Marshall", 1893, "AER".
*"The Relation Between Interest and Profits", 1894, "AER".
*"The Wages Fund at the Hands of the German Economists", 1894, "AER".
*"The Quantity Theory of Money", 1895, "AER".
*"The Employer's Place in Distribution", 1895, "QJE".
*"Wages and Capital", 1896.
*"The Present Position of the Doctrine of Free Trade", 1904, "AER".
*"Capital, Interest and Diminishing Returns", 1906, "QJE".
*"Principles of Economics", 1911.
*"How Tarriffs Should Not Be Made", 1911, "AER".
*"The Report of the Tariff Board on Wool and Woolens", 1912, "AER".
*"Some Aspects of the Tariff Question", 1915.
*"Price Maintenance", 1916, "AER".
*"Germany's Reparation Payments", 1920, "AER".
*"International Trade", 1927.

ources

* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9071417 Britannica Online]
* [http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/taussig.htm Profile of Frank W. Taussig] at the [http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/home.htm History of Economic Thought website] .