Edwin Griswold Nourse (May 20, 1883 – April 7, 1974) was an American economist who served as the first chairman of the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

from 1946 to 1949.

Biography

Born in

Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census figures, and an estimated population of 20,305 as of 2019. Its name de ...

, Nourse moved to a western suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

at the age of four months, and considered himself a

Midwesterner The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

. His father worked in the city as a supervisor of public school music. His sister, Alice Tisdale Hobart, went on to become a bestselling novelist. In high school Nourse enjoyed English and history, and after spending a year at the Louis Institute, went on to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

with an interest in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

. In 1903 he was caught in a wave of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over severa ...

that hit campus; upon his return he decided to simply get his A.B., but also took several classes at the College of Agriculture. Following college, Nourse taught for two years in high school, spent a year on graduate studies, and then came to teach at the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

, where he conceived of

agricultural economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

. From there he transited through the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

, the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Iowa State College Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, and on to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, where he received his Ph.D in 1915 for the dissertation "The Chicago Produce Market: A Study of Market Mechanism as a Factor in Price Determination". He continued to study and write about agricultural cooperation. Nourse was a friend of Harold Moulton, the first president of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

, and in 1923 he convinced Nourse to come work on the agriculture side of the Institute of Economics. He remained there until 1946, moving from the head of the agriculture division to director of Institute of Economics in 1929 and then vice president in 1942. Two years later in July he met President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

for the first time by way of Charles Griffith Ross to speak about becoming member of the newly created

Council of Economic Advisors The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

; Nourse subsequently resigned from Brookings to become its first chairman, with

Leon Keyserling Leon Hirsch Keyserling (January 11, 1908 – August 9, 1987) was an American economist and lawyer who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1950 to 1953. During his tenure, he advised President Harry S. Truman on the economi ...

as his vice-chairman and John D. Clark as a member.

Selected publications

* Nourse, E. G., Tryon, F. G., Drury, H. B., Leven, M., Moulton, H. G., & Lewis, C. ''America's capacity to produce.'' 1934. * Nourse, Edwin Griswold, and Horace Bookwalter Drury. ''Industrial price policies and economic progress.'' 1938.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nourse, Edwin Griswold 1883 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American economists Chairs of the United States Council of Economic Advisers American cooperative organizers Cornell University alumni Directors of the Office of Management and Budget Economists from New York (state) Presidents of the American Economic Association University of Chicago alumni