David Cass
David Cass (January 19, 1937 – April 15, 2008) was a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, mostly known for his contributions to general equilibrium theory. His most famous work was on the Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans model of economic growth.
For the British footballer, see David Cass (footballer). For the film director and stuntman, see David S. Cass Sr.
David Cass
April 15, 2008 (aged 71)
Stanford University (Ph.D.)
University of Oregon (A.B.)
Biography[edit]
David Cass was born in 1937 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He earned an A.B. in economics from the University of Oregon in 1958 and started to study law at the Harvard Law School as he thought of becoming a lawyer according to family tradition. As he hated studying law he left the program after one year and served in the army from 1959 to 1960. He then entered the economics Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Here he met Karl Shell, although the two began to work together only after both graduated. Cass's doctoral advisor was Hirofumi Uzawa, who also introduced him to Tjalling Koopmans, who at that time was a professor at Yale University.[1] In 1965, Cass graduated with a Ph.D. in economics and statistics with a dissertation on optimal growth, with parts of the dissertation later published in the Review of Economic Studies.[2]
After graduation Cass began to work from 1965 to 1970 as an assistant professor at the economics department of Yale University and as a research associate at the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics in New Haven. During his time at Yale University he collaborated with Menahem Yaari and Joseph Stiglitz and worked mostly on overlapping generations models. In 1970 he left New Haven for Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he was a professor of economics until 1974. During his time at Carnegie-Mellon he began to collaborate with Karl Shell, who at this time was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. One of his doctoral students was Finn E. Kydland, who would later win the Nobel Prize in Economics. In 1974 Cass left for the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a professor of economics until his death.[1] David Cass died in 2008 in Philadelphia after a long illness.[3] He was divorced and the father of two children.[4]
Cass was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1970, was an elected fellow of the Econometric Society since 1972, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva in 1994, was a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association in 1999 and was an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2003.[4]
Personal life[edit]
David Cass was outspoken about academic and personal freedom. In 1994 he became involved in an administrative dispute with the University of Pennsylvania over the implications of a consensual faculty-student relationship. At this time he had a consensual relationship with a then-graduate student. When a university policy on faculty-student relationships was adopted Cass was denied the appointment as Chair of the graduate program of the Department of Economics because of this relationship. As the graduate student in question graduated before the planned appointment of Cass as Chair of the department, the timeline of the administrative action rendered the initial objection moot.[14][15]
Beth Hayes/David Cass Prize[edit]
In 1994, David Cass was instrumental in establishing the Beth Hayes Prize for Graduate Research Accomplishment at the University of Pennsylvania. The prize was created in honor and memory of Dr. Hayes, one of his former graduate students whom he describes in his essay "On Women." In its original form, the prize was awarded biennially to the woman in the economics graduate program who had produced the most significant piece of original research in the preceding two years. The award was later modified with Cass's approval to include eligibility for male students. Following his death, the University renamed the award as The Beth Hayes/David Cass Prize for Graduate Research Accomplishment in Economics.