F. W. Taussig
Frank William Taussig (1859–1940) was an American economist who is credited with creating the foundations of modern trade theory.
F. W. Taussig
November 11, 1940 (aged 80)
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Edith Thomas Guild(m. 1888; died 1910)
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Laura Fisher(m. 1918)
Teaching[edit]
He got a law degree in 1886 and was appointed assistant professor at Harvard.[5] He became professor of economics in 1892, and he remained at Harvard for the balance of his professional career except for several years spent in federal service and some time spent traveling in Europe recovering from a nervous disorder.[4]
Beet sugar and tariff[edit]
In a 1912 article in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Taussig favored protecting the beet sugar industry with a tariff on sugar imports. A beet sugar industry gives intangible benefits by adding to the versatility and capabilities of American agriculture. Unskilled labor gains employment in the labor-intensive beet sugar sector of agriculture. Beet sugar grows best in cool climates of the irrigated regions of Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and California.[8]
Other positions held[edit]
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 chair of the United States Tariff Commission from 1917 to 1919.
He was elected a Member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.[9][10]
In March 1919, he was called to Paris to advise in the adjustment of commercial treaties, and in November, on invitation of Woodrow Wilson, he attended the second industrial conference in Washington, DC, for promoting peace between capital and labour. He was a strong supporter of the League of Nations.
Death[edit]
He died on November 11, 1940, aged 80, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Taussig is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
Legacy[edit]
The successor to his chair at Harvard was Joseph Schumpeter. In 1888, he married Edith Thomas Guild. One of their four children was Helen B. Taussig (1898–1986), a noted pediatrician and cardiologist. F. W. Taussig's first wife died in 1910, and he married Laura Fisher.[4][5]
Much of Taussigs work is available from Internet Archive:
