Asher Hobson (born November 26, 1889 in Quenemo, Osage County, Kansas; died February 29, 1992 in Blue Mounds, Dane County, Wisconsin) was an American agricultural economist.

Life

Education and personal life

Asher Hobson graduated in 1913 with a bachelor of arts from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. He studied agricultural economics at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, where in 1915 he obtained a master's degree. In 1931, he obtained a doctorate in political sciences from the

Graduate Institute of International Studies Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumnus, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...

in Geneva. Hobson in 1937 took over

Little Norway Little Norway ( no, Lille Norge), officially (FTL, "Air Force Training Camp"), was a Norwegian Army Air Service/Royal Norwegian Air Force training camp in southern Ontario during the Second World War. Origins When Nazi Germany attacked Norway o ...

, a living museum of a Norwegian village located in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Professional life

Hobson got his first position as research assistant in agriculture economics at the

in 1914, which he occupied until 1916. In 1917 was appointed state director of markets in Washington, D.C. In 1920 he was named assistant chief of the Office of Farm Management with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also took on an associate professorship of economic agriculture at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1922, Asher Hobson moved to Rome as a U.S. delegate to the

International Institute of Agriculture The International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) was founded in Rome in 1905 by the King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III with the intent of creating a clearinghouse for collection of agricultural statistics. It was created primarily due to the efforts ...

, and in 1929 he returned to Washington D.C. to take the position of consulting economist to the

Federal Farm Board The Federal Farm Board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

. In 1931, Hobson accepted a professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where a year later he was appointed head of the department of agricultural economics, a position he kept until 1948. He retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953. Beginning in 1948, he was also a member of the Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry of the United States Senate. Hobson was one of the leading U.S. agricultural economists of his times. He was a member of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members. History and Constitution The AEA was esta ...

, the

Agricultural & Applied Economics Association The Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is a not-for-profit professional association for those interested in the field of agricultural and applied economics. The AAEA association has an annual meeting every year. It publishes two ...

, the International Association of Agricultural Economists, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and the honor society of

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

and the

Delta Sigma Rho Delta Sigma Rho- Tau Kappa Alpha () is a collegiate honor society devoted to the promotion of public speaking (forensics). History Both Delta Sigma Rho and Tau Kappa Alpha were founded as honorary forensic societies. Delta Sigma Rho Delta Sigm ...

Publications (selected)

* Can prices be controlled? : lesson O., American Institute of Agriculture, Chicago, Ill., 1923 * Agricultural economics in Europe. A survey of the teaching, research, and extension activities in agricultural economics in European countries, Rome, 1926 * Report on the Work of the Agricultural Commission of the International Economic Conference, Geneva, May 4 to 23, 1927, Rome, 1927 * Memorandum on the second session of the Economic Consultative Committee of the League of Nations, 1929 * Report on the Fifteenth International Congress of Agriculture Held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, June 5-8, 1931, 1931 * The International Institute of Agriculture; an historical and critical analysis of its organization, activities and policies of administration, in: University of California publications in international relations., volume II, University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1931 * Cooperation Principles and Practices: The Application of Cooperation to the Assembling, Processing, and Marketing of Farm Products; to the Purchase of Farm and Household Supplies; and to the Providing of Such Services as Credit, Insurance, Artificial Breeding and Rural Electric Power, in: Circular 420, Extension Service of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., 1952

Literature

* Jaques Cattell Press.: American men of science; a biographical directory, volume III, Bowker, New York, 1956, S. 309. * Who was who in America. : volume VIII, 1982-1985 with world notables, Marquis Who's Who, Chicago, Ill., 1985, S. 190. * John Mark Hansen: Gaining access : Congress and the farm lobby, 1919-1981, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1991, S. 26. * Ira Lawrence Baldwin, Donna Taylor Hartshorne: My half century at the University of Wisconsin, Privately published by Ira L. Baldwin, Madison, Wis., 1995, S. 161, 162, 558.

References

1889 births 1992 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians People from Osage County, Kansas Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni University of Kansas alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni United States Department of Agriculture people University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Asher