Joseph J. Spengler

Joseph John Spengler (19 November 1902 – 2 January 1991) was an American economist, statistician, and historian of economic thought.Kelley (March 1992), p. 142 A recipient of the 1951 John Frederick Lewis Award of the American Philosophical Society and the 1981 Distinguished Fellow Award from the History of Economics Society, he was Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University at the time of his death.

Biography

Spengler was born in Piqua, Ohio. He graduated from the Piqua High School and initially studied journalism at college, but dropped out after his first year to become a crime reporter. A year later he returned to higher education, at first studying sociology and political science, but eventually gravitating to economics. He received his B.A., M.A., and PhD from Ohio State University, where his 1930 doctoral dissertation was a comparative study on the fertility rates of native-born and immigrant women in the United States. After a stint teaching at the University of Arizona he joined the faculty of Duke University in 1932, initially as a visiting professor, and became a permanent member of the faculty in 1934. He was to remain there until his retirement as the James B. Duke Professor of Economics in 1972. With Earl J. Hamilton, Spengler established the university's first graduate level program in Economic History as well as the History of Political Economy (HOPE) research group.

During World War II, he worked for the Office of Price Administration as the price executive for the Southeastern region of the United States and over the years held several other advisory posts to the US government and the United Nations. His interest in population studies and the demographic aspects of economics reflected in his doctoral dissertation, became a major focus of his research and writing throughout his career. His first book, ''France Faces Depopulation'', published in 1938, examined the cultural and political causes of France's pre-World War II population decline, and one of his last major books was ''The Economics of Individual and Population Aging'', published in 1980. In 1972, Duke University Press published a collection of his classic essays in the area: ''Population Economics: Selected Essays of Joseph J. Spengler''.

Joseph Spengler died in Durham, North Carolina from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 88.Cook (3 January 1991) He was survived by his wife, the former Dorothy Marie Kress. The couple married in 1927 and were co-authors of "Maintenance of Postwar Full Employment" (1944). Spengler's 1978 book, ''Facing Zero Population Growth: Reactions and Interpretations, Past and Present'' has the dedication:

To Dorothy Kress Spengler, my wife, companion, and co-worker for fifty years

In 2004, the History of Economics Society established the annual Joseph J. Spengler Prize for the best book published on the history of economics.History of Economics Society
Joseph J. Spengler Prize

Selected publications of Joseph J. Spengler

* 1938. ''France Faces Depopulation''. Duke Univ. Press. First-page chapter-previe
links
* 1950. "Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy," ''Journal of Political Economy'', 58(4),
p. 347
352 (from JSTOR).
* 1951. "The Population Obstacle to Economic Betterment," ''American Economic Review'', 41(2),
p. 343
354.
* 1964. "Economic Thought of Islam: Ibn Khaldun," ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', 6(3),
p. 268
306.
* 1966. "Values and Fertility Analysis," ''Demography'', 3(1),
p. 109
130.
* 1966. "The Economist and the Population Question," ''American Economic Review'', 56(1/2), pp. 1–24
* 1972. ''Population Economics: Selected Essays of Joseph J. Spengler'', Robert S. Smith ''et al.'', ed. Duke Univ. Press. Revie
extract.
* 1980. ''Origins of Economic Thought and Justice'', Southern Illinois University Press. 1st-page chapte
links

* 1980. ''The Economics of Individual and Population Aging''. With Robert L. Clark
Description
& chapter-previe
links
on Google Books.

Notes and references

Sources

*Cook, Joan
"Joseph Spengler, 88, Economics Professor At Duke University"
''New York Times'', 3 January 1991.
*Cook, Robert Cecil (ed.), "Spengler, Joseph John"
''Who's Who in American Education: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Living Educators of the United States''
Volume 8, 1938
*Durden, Robert Franklin
''The Launching of Duke University, 1924-1949''
Duke University Press, 1993.
*Kelley, Allen C.
"Joseph J. Spengler (November 19, 1902-January 2, 1991)"
''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol. 136, No. 1, (March 1992), pp. 142–147
*Silk, Leonard

''New York Times'', 4 January 1991
*Spengler, Dorothy K. and Spengler, Joseph J, "Maintenance of Postwar Full Employment" in ''The Winning Plans in the Pabst Postwar Employment Awards'', Pabst Brewing Company, 1944, pp. 79–83
*Spengler, Joseph J
''Facing Zero Population Growth: Reactions and Interpretations, Past and Present''
Duke University Press, 1978.
;Further reading
* Blaug, Mark (ed.), "Spengler, Joseph L.", ''Who's Who in Economics'' (3d edition), E. Elgar, 1999.
* Silk, Leonard
"The Economics of Joseph J. Spengler"
''Demography India'', 14 (1), 1986, pp. 137–145
* Sobel, Irvin, "Joseph J. Spengler: The Institutionalist Approach to the History of Economics" in ''Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology'', Vol.1, 1983, pp. 243–270.

External links

Duke University, January 14, 1972
CV: Joseph J. Spengler
Duke University Archives.
Joseph J. Spengler
Duke University
Joseph_John_Spengler_Papers,_[ca._1896
/nowiki>-1987.html" ;"title="a. 1896">Joseph John Spengler Papers, [ca. 1896
/nowiki>-1987">a. 1896">Joseph John Spengler Papers, [ca. 1896
/nowiki>-1987 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spengler, Joseph J.
1902 births
1991 deaths
Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Ohio State University faculty
University of Arizona faculty
University of Chicago faculty
University of Pittsburgh faculty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Duke University faculty
Historians of economic thought
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
20th-century American historians
Presidents of the American Economic Association
Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association
Economists from Arizona
20th-century American economists
Ohio State University Graduate School alumni