Merrill Mason Gaffney (October 18, 1923 – July 16, 2020) was an American economist and a major critic of

Neoclassical economics Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption, and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a go ...

from a

Georgist Georgism, in modern times also called Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that people should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—includ ...

point of view. Gaffney first read

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...

's masterwork ''

Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pov ...

'' as a high school junior. This interest led him to

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 ...

in 1941 but, unimpressed with their approach to economics he left in 1942 to join the war effort. After serving in the southwest Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he earned his B.A. in 1948 from

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

in Portland,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. In 1956 he gained a Ph.D. in economics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. There he addressed his teachers' skepticism about Georgism with a dissertation titled "Land Speculation as an Obstacle to Ideal Allocation of Land." Gaffney was Professor of Economics at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

from 1976 onwards. He died in July 2020 at the age of 96.

Career

Gaffney was a professor of economics at several universities; a journalist with '' TIME, Inc.''; a researcher with

Resources for the Future Resources for the Future (RFF) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1952, that conducts independent research into environmental, energy, and natural resource issues, primarily via economics and other social sciences. Headquartered in ...

; the head of the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Institute for Economic Policy Analysis, which he founded; an economic consultant to several businesses and government agencies; and a frequent speaker on economic topics, domestic and foreign, and in political campaigns. He was elected as a Director of Robert Schalkenbach Foundation in 1984. Gaffney had a wide and varied professional career. His professional positions included: *

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

1953-54 Instructor *

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

1954-1958 assistant professor *

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, 1958-62 associate professor and professor of agricultural economics * University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1962-1969 professor of economics; department chair 1963–1965 *

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

1967- visiting professor of economics * Resources for the Future, Washington, DC 1969-1973 senior research associate * British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis, Victoria, B.C., 1973-1976 founder and director *

1976-2012 professor of economics, teaching both managerial economics in the (Graduate School of Administration) and economics.

Publications

Gaffney published many books and articles on public finance, land use, economics, taxation, and public policy. These include: * Gaffney, M. Mason. ''Concepts of financial maturity of timber and other assets.'' (Raleigh: North Carolina State College, 1957). * LAND: A Special Issue (of House and Home Magazine) * Gaffney, Mason. ''Extractive Resources and Taxation: Proceedings'' (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967) (some pages available on Dr. Gaffney'
personal site
* Gaffney, Mason; Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources.; Alaska Legislature Interim Committee on Oil and Gas Taxation and Leasing Policy. ''Oil and gas leasing policy: alternatives for Alaska in 1977: a report''. (1977) * * Gaffney, M. (1997)
What price water marketing?: California's new frontier
''The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 56,'' 475–520. * Gaffney, M., Harrison, F., & Feder, K. '' The Corruption of Economics.'' (London: Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd., 1994) (hardback), (paperback). In this book, Gaffney shows how

was designed and promoted by landowners and their hired economists to divert attention from George's extremely popular insight that since land and resources are provided by nature, and their value is given by society, they - rather than labor or capital - should provide the tax base to fund government and its expenditures. * Gaffney, Mason.
After the Crash: Designing A Depression Free Economy
'' (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell (Publishers), 2009) (hardback), (paperback). This anthology of papers and essays by Gaffney provides a detailed explanation for the business cycle through a synthesis of Georgist, Austrian, and other schools of economic thought. It is both a pointed critique of Neoclassical economics and a prescription for a financial sector that is self-correcting, rather than crisis-prone. Includes introduction by editor Clifford Cobb. Available through the Robert Schalkenback Foundation in
HardCover
' and
Paperback
''.

References

External links

Mason Gaffney's personal site
Contains a biography, bibliography and many essays, articles and chapters for free download.
Site for Mason Gaffney's book ''After the Crash''
An anthology of works related to capital and business cycles. Includes some other papers and articles for free download reproduced elsewhere.
Remembering Dr. Mason Gaffney
A tribute to Dr Gaffney and a link to a more detailed biography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffney, Mason 1923 births 2020 deaths American economics writers American male non-fiction writers Economists from California Economists from New York (state) Georgist economists Military personnel from New York (state) Reed College alumni University of California, Riverside faculty Harvard University alumni