Edward Sagendorph Mason (February 22, 1899 – February 29, 1992) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He was the Dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration, now known as the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, from 1947 to 1958. He was the president of the American Economic Association in 1962.

Early life

Edward Sagendorph Mason was born on February 22, 1899 in

Clinton, Iowa Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 24,469 as of 2020. Clinton, along with DeWitt (also located in Clinton County), was named in honor of the sixth governor of New York, DeWitt C ...

. His younger brother was Warren P. Mason, who became an electrical engineer and physicist. He graduated 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. T ...

in 1919. He entered Harvard University, where he was a Rhodes scholar at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

during his master's degree. He earned a PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1925. His thesis supervisor was

Frank William Taussig Frank William Taussig (1859–1940) was an American economist who is credited with creating the foundations of modern trade theory. Early life He was born on December 28, 1859, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of William Taussig and Adele Wuerpe ...

Career

Mason taught a course on the history of socialism in the Department of Economics at his alma mater, Harvard University, in the 1920s and 1930s. He became a tenured professor in 1936. He was the dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration, now known as the

, from 1947 to 1958. He was the founder of the Development Advisory Service, now known as the

Harvard Institute for International Development The Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) was a think-tank dedicated to helping nations join the global economy, operating between 1974 and 2000. It was a center within Harvard University, United States. Foundation and leadership ...

, in 1963. Mason worked for the Office of Strategic Services during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was an early economist at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and 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 over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. He was also a consultant to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

. Mason was the president of the American Economic Association in 1962. He became known for his work in

industrial organization In economics, industrial organization is a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure of (and, therefore, the boundaries between) firms and markets. Industrial organization adds real-world complications to the perf ...

, an area in which provided direct inspiration to Joe Bain for his

SCP SCP may refer to: Organizations Political parties * Soviet Communist Party, the leading political party in the former Soviet Union * Syrian Communist Party * Sudanese Communist Party * Scottish Christian Party Companies * Seattle Computer Produ ...

model, and in development economics.Gustav F. Papanek (2008) Mason, Edward Sagendorph (1899–1992) in ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'', Second Edition, Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume

Personal life and death

Mason married Marguerite Sisson La Monte on April 4, 1930. They had two sons and a daughter. Mason died on February 29, 1992 in Santa Barbara, California.

Selected works

* Mason, E. (1926) The doctrine of comparative cost. ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' 41, November 63–93. *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Edward Sagendorph 1899 births 1992 deaths University of Kansas alumni Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty 20th-century American economists Presidents of the American Economic Association