Lewis Levitzki Lorwin (December 4, 1883 – June 6, 1970) was an American economist, economic planner, and labor historian of Russian-Jewish origin.

Life

Lorwin was born Louis Levitzky Levine on December 4, 1883, near

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. Levine received his doctorate at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1912. He then studied at Columbia and the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marki ...

. At Montana, he was Professor of Economics from 1916 to 1919 and authored ''Taxation of Mines in Montana''. He was suspended from his position for his writings on the mining industry, but later reinstated with support from the

American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...

. In 1920, he was a spokesman for the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

'' and then served as a professor at

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1846 when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It has an enrollment of roughly 1,000 undergradua ...

. In 1922, he accepted a position as the Russia correspondent for the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

''. In 1924, Levine published a history of the

International Ladies Garment Workers Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membersh ...

under the title ''The Woman's Garment Workers''. This brought him to the attention 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 ...

, which hired him as a labor specialist. At Brookings, Levine changed his name to Lewis L. Lorwin, which his biographers have said was a choice to hide his Russian-Jewish origins. While working for Brookings, Lorwin established ties to the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. He later became instrumental in migrating the intellectuals of the Frankfurt School to

. Throughout his career, Lorwin was an advocate of

economic planning Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources ...

, culminating in his work as a drafter of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...

for post-WWII European reconstruction. Lorwin was appointed director of the U.S. Office of International Trade. He was criticized by

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

conservatives for remarks he had made in the 1930s and resigned his position in 1952. Lorwin married Rose Strunsky in 1920 and they had three children: Boris, Rosa, and Val Lorwin. Lorwin died in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on June 6, 1970.

Writings

* ''The Women's Garment Workers: A History of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union'' (1924) *''Labor and Internationalism'' (1929) * "The Origins of Economic Planning," ''The Survey'' 67, no. 9 (February 1932) *''The American Federation of Labor: History, Policies, and Prospects'' (1933) * ''Economic Consequences of the Second World War'' (1941) *''The International Labor Movement: History, Policies, Outlook'' (1953)

References

External links

Lewis Levitzki Lorwin papers, 1908-1970, Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorwin, Lewis L. 1883 births 1970 deaths Academics from Kyiv Columbia University alumni University of Montana faculty 20th-century American economists Labor historians

Life

Writings

References

Further reading

External links