The Wisconsin school in economics was based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison , and played a significant role in American economics in the first half of the 20th century. The Wisconsin school was central to institutionalism in the United States , and also played a prominent role in labor economics and in the development of the policy ideas associated with the New Deal . The central figures in the Wisconsin school were Richard T. Ely and his student John R. Commons .
31-677: Notable students of Commons included Edwin E. Witte , largely responsible for the drafting of the Social Security Act , Selig Perlman , Kenneth Parsons , and Harold Groves . Other notable economists associated with the Wisconsin school include Walter Heller , Robert J. Lampman , Warren Samuels , and Theodore Schultz . This economic theory related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Edwin E. Witte Edwin Emil Witte (January 4, 1887 – May 20, 1960)
62-513: A B.A. in history and immediately began graduate work. His adviser, Frederick Jackson Turner , left Madison in 1910 for Harvard , but recommended that Witte continue studying history under John R. Commons of the economics department. This advice turned Witte to the study of economics. Because Commons at this time was heavily involved in advising Robert M. La Follette , and the government of Wisconsin (see Wisconsin Idea ), Witte easily found work with
93-540: A set of legislative proposals that covered unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, disability compensation, aid to families with dependent children. His committee also for a time worked on a national health insurance plan but this was dropped from the final bill as being too much too soon. It was also strongly opposed by the American Medical Association . When hearings began in January ;1935, Witte as
124-561: A tool for persuasion in the development of social insurance policy. Working closely with legislators at both the state and national level, Witte had a keen sense for the process. As a government social reformer, David B. Johnson describe Witte as "neither a politician nor an activist. Rather he was a facilitator, a creative draftsman of public programs, a compromiser, and a tireless mediator who devoted his efforts towards bringing divergent sides together and to working out mutually acceptable solutions". From 1922 to 1933, he served as chief of
155-606: A visiting professor. Edwin E. Witte died on May 20, 1960, of a stroke complicated by cardiovascular issues. This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article " Edwin E. Witte ", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL . Herman Oliphant Herman Enzla Oliphant was an American legal scholar and professor at
186-824: The University of Chicago Law School and Columbia Law School . He is considered to be a leading figure of the legal realism movement in the United States. Oliphant was born in Forest, Indiana , on August 31, 1884, to Albert G. Oliphant, a farmer and livestock trader, and Martha Jane Richardson. He grew up on the family farm. In 1903, he graduated from Forest High School and attended Marion College. He returned home in 1905 to marry his childhood sweetheart, Julia Sims. In 1907, he graduated from Marion College and then went on to obtain an A.B. with majors in philology, Greek, and philosophy from Indiana University (1909) and his J.D. degree from
217-464: The University of Chicago Law School in 1914. Oliphant began his teaching career at the University of Chicago Law School before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 1922. Shortly after his arrival at Columbia University, he wrote to the university's president, Nicholas Murray Butler , outlining some plans he had for reorganizing the curriculum of the law school. Essentially, his goal
248-863: The Wagner Act ( National Labor Relations Act ). In addition to guiding the Social Security Act through the United States Congress, Witte also worked on other labor legislation including (with George William Norris and Fiorello H. La Guardia ) the Norris La Guardia anti-injunction act . Also during the 1930s he served on the Wisconsin State Planning Board and the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board. He continued to teach and publish as well. During his tenure at
279-535: The institutional economics approach to problems. Because of Witte's expertise in both legislation and social insurance, and his national reputation as an expert in the area of social insurance, he was selected to lead the President's Committee on Economic Security to propose legislation that would eventually become the Social Security Act of 1935. Witte also was an acquaintance of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins , and her assistant secretary, Arthur J. Altmeyer
310-460: The "Father of Social Security", but Witte himself denied this claim. He believed that he deserved "this title less than many others". Witte pointed out that the Social Security Act was a collaborative undertaking: Social Security, like most other major social advances, has been the product of the endeavors and work of many people over a long period of time. The contributions made by any one person have been so commingled with those of many others that
341-626: The Clayton Act because its language did not provide a strong anti-injunction clause favored by Samuel Gompers and organized labor. Witte's views were validated in Duplex Printing Press Company ;v. Deering (254 U.S. 443 [1921]) which struck down the labor protection clauses of the act. When Commons was appointed to the United States Commission on Industrial Relations , he brought Witte along. Witte's main focus here
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#1732845578904372-570: The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, his nephew Dr. Cleon O. Swayzee of Columbia University, in a 1984 interview stated two other reasons that took precedence for Oliphant's efforts. First was the influence of Oliphant's brother, Dr. Homer Oliphant, a physician who practiced in Forest and Frankfort, Indiana , and who was promoting the theory as early as 1919 that smoking was dangerous for the health of mothers and unborn babies. Granted Oliphant didn't do anything about smoking cigarettes. The second reason
403-754: The University of Wisconsin, he advised fifty six Ph.D. candidates. During World War II , Witte served as a labor-management mediator under the Defense Mobilization Act and then for the War Labor Board . Once the war was over Witte returned to his teaching. In 1947 he created the Industrial Relations Center at Madison. He was also one of the founding members of the Industrial Relations Research Association and
434-631: The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, an agency now known as the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Joining the faculty at Wisconsin, he worked with Commons, and Selig Perlman , Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Robert M. La Follette, Jr. , E. A. Ross , and Arthur J. Altmeyer (who became the chairman of the Social Security Board) who were developing
465-442: The Wisconsin progressive movement and working on public policy issues of the day. In 1933 Witte was appointed full professor in the economics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, while serving as an administrator, Witte managed to publish consistently. This, coupled with his reputation as an expert on labor economics explain the unusual appointment. Following this appointment, Witte served on
496-902: The chief counsel of the United States Treasury Department , serving in that capacity from 1934 to 1939. While serving in that position, he was regarded as an economic experimenter, and was the prime advocate of the undistributed profits tax . He was known for shaping many of the policies of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt . While at the Treasury Department, Oliphant was lobbied by William Randolph Hearst to make cannabis illegal. Hearst had recently become heavily involved in synthetics based on petroleum hydrocarbons, and wanted to quash efforts from competing companies to make similar products from hemp seed oil. Although that theory has been promoted for Oliphant's push for
527-559: The end-product cannot be attributed to any individual or group of individuals. Then, also, Arthur J. Altmeyer is often referred to as the "Father of Social Security". See the remarks of Congressman Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI) on the death of Altmeyer. The son of Abraham Epstein has called his father the "Forgotten Father of Social Security" in a recent book. Witte continued to advise legislators both in Wisconsin and Washington for many years afterwards. In 1935, he consulted with Senators Robert M. La Follette, Jr. and Robert Wagner on
558-564: The final legislation. It was signed by Roosevelt on August 18, 1935. Witte returned to his teaching but remained for many years a consultant to the Social Security Administration as a member of the first Advisory Council on Social Security, as a member of the Federal Advisory Council on Social Security, and as a member of the President's Committee on Administrative Management. Witte has long been credited as
589-635: The principal author of the Social Security Act of 1935 was questioned for four days before the House Ways and Means Committee explaining the operation of the bill, its costs and benefits, and using his research to make a persuasive case. He performed the same act for three days before the Senate Finance Committee . He remained in Washington during the Spring and Summer of 1935, working with Congress towards
620-806: The state of Wisconsin was as a statistician of workmen's compensation insurance rates for the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. His work here led the Wisconsin Legislature to grant the Commission authority to regulate those rates. In 1912, Witte accepted the job of personal secretary to Congressman John M. Nelson. Nelson served on the House Judiciary Committee which was then considering the Clayton Antitrust Act . Witte wrote Nelson's minority report opposing approval of
651-525: The state upon completion of his coursework in 1911. Witte was soon overwhelmed with work; he completed his qualifying exams in 1916 but did not return to his dissertation studies until the mid-1920s. He eventually completed his doctorate in economics in 1927. Witte married Florence Rimsnider, a librarian who worked at the Legislative Reference Library. The couple lived on Madison Street; they had one son and two daughters. Witte's first job for
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#1732845578904682-472: The unemployment insurance section of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. As a professor of economics, one of his central beliefs (taught in his "Government and Business" courses) was that the economics discipline, because of its focus on markets, deprecated the role of government in regulating, promoting, and protecting the economy. He preferred "political economics" to "economics" as the truer descriptor of his discipline. Also trained by Commons, Witte preferred
713-420: Was a colleague of Witte's while at graduate school and on the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. The major problem facing Witte was time. He was appointed in late July and President Roosevelt wanted legislative proposals to hand the new congress when it convened in January 1935. Witte was able to meet this deadline. He and his staff (which included one of his undergraduate students Wilbur J. Cohen ) had
744-498: Was an economist who focused on social insurance issues for the state of Wisconsin and for the Committee on Economic Security . While the executive director of the President's Committee on Economic Security under U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , he developed during 1934 the policies and the legislation that became the Social Security Act of 1935. Because of this he is sometimes called "the father of Social Security". Witte
775-497: Was appointed the executive secretary of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission., where he added labor and safety regulatory policies to his list of progressive social insurance concerns. In 1921, he accepted the position of chief of the Wisconsin Legislative Research Library a position that was mostly helping legislators draft legislation. In all of these positions, Witte developed his skills at using research as
806-510: Was born in the Moravian community of Ebenezer, Wisconsin , about four miles south of Watertown . He was recognized from an early age as having remarkable intelligence, such that his parents sent him to high school in Watertown. He graduated as the valedictorian of his class and also became the first person in his family to attend college. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1909 with
837-759: Was its first president in 1948. He was also involved with the National Association of Arbiters, the Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel as well as continuing to advise Wisconsin legislators. During the academic year of 1953–54, he was a visiting scholar at Cornell University 's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. In 1956 Witte was elected to the presidency of the American Economics Association . Witte retired in 1957, and like millions of other Americans, received Social Security benefits, while he continued to teach regularly as
868-580: Was on the use of the labor injunction, which became the topic of his dissertation. By the time he published this research, he was noted as the foremost authority on the anti-labor injunction and served as an adviser (along with Felix Frankfurter , Donald Richberg , Francis Sayre , and Herman Oliphant ) to the Senate Judiciary Committee drafting the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act of 1932. In January 1917, he
899-509: Was relatively simply structured, in the present age it should be abandoned. To this effect, Oliphant pleaded a scientific approach. In his opinion, the way a judge deals with a case can be qualified as a stimulus-response situation, in the sense that the judge reacts to the stimulus of the case brought to his attention. In his 1928 inaugural address as President of the American Association of Law Schools, Oliphant said: "Our case material
930-468: Was that in the midst of the Great Depression with limited employment opportunities this endeavor was a vehicle to discourage immigration particularly from Mexico. Oliphant is generally regarded as a representative of American legal realism and is famous for his statement that the principle of stare decisis is no longer applicable. Although the approach could be implemented in a time when society
961-532: Was to transform the school into a research center, placing particular emphasis on the interaction of the law and other social sciences. Under the administration of Huger Jervey , who became dean of the law school in 1924, Oliphant's plans were used as the basis for a reorganization of the law school. In 1932, Oliphant was co-author with Theodore S. Hope Jr. of "Study of Day Calendars" 1932, an in-depth look into how time effects trial cases. Oliphant later went on to teach at Johns Hopkins University , and later became