Richard Francis Ruggles (1916– March 4, 2001) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

known for "developing accounting tools for measuring national income and improving price indexes used in formulating government policy."

Early life and education

Ruggles was born June 15, 1916, in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. He spent most of his youth in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where his father, Clyde O. Ruggles, also an economist, served as the dean of

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. Ruggles later pursued both undergraduate and graduate economic studies at Harvard. In 1942, he was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

for his thesis titled ''Price Structure and Distribution over the Cycle''.

World War II and academic career

In 1943, Ruggles traveled to London and joined the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

, where he used photographs of destroyed German tank serial numbers to estimate production rates at different factories, solving the

German tank problem German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. Ruggles was a member of the economics department at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

from 1946 to 1985, serving as chairman from 1969 to 1972. Additionally, he did research for government agencies, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

and the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic co ...

. In 1963 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The designation of ASA Fellow has been a sign ...

Family

Ruggles was married to Nancy D. Ruggles, also an economist, and they frequently worked together. Their daughter, Pat Ruggles, is also a noted economist. Their son,

Steven Ruggles Steven Ruggles (born May 8, 1955 - New Haven, Conn.) is Regents Professor of History and Population Studies at the University of Minnesota, and the director of the IPUMS Center for Data Integration. He is best known as the creator of IPUMS, the ...

, is a professor of history, most known for his creation of

IPUMS IPUMS, originally the ''Integrated Public Use Microdata Series'', is the world's largest individual-level population database. IPUMS consists of microdata samples from United States ''(IPUMS-USA)'' and international ''(IPUMS-International)'' cens ...

The Nancy and Richard Ruggles Memorial Fund

The Nancy and Richard Ruggles Memorial Fund presents an annual award recognizing outstanding scholarship. The prize is given to a researcher or researchers aged 35 or under and it is administered by the trustees of the fund. The presentation is made at the General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW).

Bibliography

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References

External links

*
Richard Ruggles Papers (MS 1871).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruggles, Richard Francis 1916 births 2001 deaths Harvard University alumni People from Columbus, Ohio Yale University faculty Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Statistical Association Economists from Ohio 20th-century American economists