Isador Lubin (9 June 1896 – 6 July 1978) was the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1933 to 1946, and president of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

in 1946.

Career

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, at the U.S. Food Administration, Lubin analyzed labor and price policy related to food production for the Allied Nations. Later at the

War Industries Board The War Industries Board (WIB) was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department (Department of the Army) and the Navy Department. Becaus ...

’s Price Section, he studied the effect of price shifts on the output of the petroleum and rubber industries. He was as an instructor at the Institute of Economics and earned a Ph.D. there in 1926. It became part of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

in 1927. Lubin's book ''Miners' Wages and the Cost of Coal'' was accepted as a dissertation. "In 1932, as adviser to Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., he pioneered the notion of government responsibility for the

national accounts National accounts or national account systems (NAS) are the implementation of complete and consistent accounting Scientific technique, techniques for measuring the economic activity of a nation. These include detailed underlying measures that ...

." Lubin was appointed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by

Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member o ...

in July 1933 and stayed in the position until January 1946.BLS history, Commissioners Isador Lubin
at bls.gov For much of this time, Lubin had an office in the White House's

West Wing The West Wing of the White House is the location of the office space of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room (White House), Cabinet Room, the White House Situation Room, Situation Room, a ...

"and served as special statistical adviser to President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

." Lubin was sometimes described as a member of President Roosevelt's " brain trust." In 1944 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. In 1941 Lubin authorized BLS to start a research group at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

directed by

Wassily Leontief Wassily Wassilyevich Leontief (; August 5, 1905 – February 5, 1999) was a Soviet-American economist known for his research on input–output analysis and how changes in one economic sector may affect other sectors. Leontief won the Nobel Memo ...

which constructed the first official table of U.S. industry inputs and outputs." In 1945, Roosevelt appointed Lubin as Minister to the Allied Reparations Commission. "In his presidential address to the American Statistical Society in January

947 Year 947 (Roman numerals, CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – A Principality of Hungary, Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony of Hungary, Taksony campaign ...

Lubin emphasized he roleof statistics in modern economic society and the value to the free world of pertinent data." Lubin was appointed the Industrial Commissioner of

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

from 1955 to 1958 by Governor W. Averell Harriman.

Personal and legacy

In 1952 Lubin married the former Carol Riegelman (1909–2005), a longtime consultant to the UN/ ILO. He had two daughters by a previous marriage to Ann Shumaker Lubin, the editor of "Progressive Education" and co-author of the book, "The Child-Centered School" (1928): Alice Lubin Everitt an
Ann Lubin Buttenwieser
Fellowships named for Dr. Lubin were established at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

and

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

References

Further information

* Lewis Lansky. 1976
Isador Lubin: The Ideas and Career of a New Deal Labor Economist
Case Western Reserve University. Dissertation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lubin, Isador American civil servants 20th-century American economists Bureau of Labor Statistics Fellows of the American Statistical Association Presidents of the American Statistical Association 1896 births 1978 deaths Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel Truman administration personnel