Dorothy Carolin Bacon (February 25, 1902 – November 8, 1998) was an American economist and college professor. She was an economics professor at Smith College for over thirty years, beginning in 1927, and worked for various federal agencies during her career. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 1956 and 1957, studying credit institutions in the Philippines.

Early life and education

Bacon was born in

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. History Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sen ...

, the daughter of George Preston Bacon and Hannah Churchill Bacon. Her father was a physics professor and dean of engineering at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, and her mother worked as a nurse during the

1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. Her younger sister was

Ruth E. Bacon Ruth Elizabeth Bacon (1908 – 1985) was an American foreign service officer, a Far East specialist. She was one of the first six annual recipients of the Federal Woman's Award, in 1961. In 1968, she retired as director of the Office of Regional ...

, a foreign service officer. The sisters were close, and Dorothy Bacon shopped for Ruth Bacon's work wardrobe when she was a diplomat. Bacon attended

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Ha ...

from 1918 to 1919, and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1922. She stayed at Radcliffe to earn a master's degree in 1924, and a PhD in economics in 1928, with a dissertation titled "Maladjustment of Prices with Special Reference to the Wholesale Prices of Commodities in the United States; 1890-1896".

Career

Bacon was a professor of economics at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

from 1924 to 1926, and at Smith College from 1927 into the 1960s. She wrote ''Recent Economic History of Five Towns'' (1937). She served on an awards committee of the American Association of University Women in 1940. In the 1930s, Bacon worked for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

and the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...

(FDIC). In 1939, she was among the "leading instructors in economics" who signed a letter opposing a sales tax in Massachusetts. In the 1940s, she worked for the

Office of Price Administration The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price contr ...

. She consulted for 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 ...

in the 1950s, and worked with 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 c ...

. She was a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines from 1956 to 1957.

Publications

* "A Monthly Index of Commodity Prices, 1890–1900" (1926) * "The Significance of Fixed-Base and Link Relatives in Studies of Price Stability—a Comment on ''the Behavior of Prices''" (1928) * ''Recent Economic History of Five Towns'' (1937) * "New Credit Patterns for the Rise from Colonialism: The Case of the Philippines" (1959) * "New Credit Institutions for New Nations: The Case of the Philippines" (1965)

Personal life

Bacon died in 1998, aged 96 years, in Meriden, Connecticut. Her grave is with her parents' graves, at Shawsheen Cemetery in Massachusetts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Dorothy Carolin 1902 births 1998 deaths People from Beloit, Wisconsin Radcliffe College alumni Smith College faculty Vassar College faculty Women economists 20th-century American economists