Frederick Vail Waugh (1898–1974) was an American

agricultural economist 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 ...

known for his work relating supply, demand, quality, and marketing in the prices of agricultural products, for his understanding of who benefits from volatility in agricultural pricing, and for his advocacy of

food stamp In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for Poverty in the United States, low- and no-income people. It ...

and food distribution policies for the poor. He worked for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Early life and education

Waugh was the brother of Albert Waugh, long-time provost at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, and the son of

Frank Albert Waugh Frank Albert Waugh (July 8, 1869 – March 20, 1943) was an American landscape architect whose career focused upon recreational uses of national forests, the production of a highly natural style of landscape design, and the implementation of ecolo ...

, who was a professor of horticulture and landscape architecture at the

Massachusetts Agricultural College The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

(now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

) and the namesake of the Frank A. Waugh Arboretum at the university. He enlisted in the

United States Army Ambulance Service The United States Army Ambulance#Military use, Ambulance Service (USAAS) was a unit of the United States Army during World War I. It was established by General Order No. 75 of the United States Department of War, War Department in May 1917. It ...

for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and was awarded the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for his service. After the war, he graduated from the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1922. He earned a master's degree in 1924 from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, became an instructor at the

in 1925, and completed a Ph.D. in 1929 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 ...

Recognition

Waugh is one of the namesakes of the

Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem In econometrics, the Frisch–Waugh–Lovell (FWL) theorem is named after the econometricians Ragnar Frisch, Frederick V. Waugh, and Michael C. Lovell. The Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem states that if the regression we are concerned with is: : ...

econometrics Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...

. He became a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

in 1945, and a

Fellow of the Econometric Society In the scientific discipline of economics, the Econometric Society is a learned society devoted to the advancement of economics by using mathematical and statistical methods. This article is a list of its (current and in memory) fellows. Fellows ...

in 1947. In 1957, 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 ...

named him as a fellow. In 1968, he and his daughter, mathematician

Margaret Maxfield Margaret Alice Waugh Maxfield (February 23, 1926 – December 20, 2016) was an American mathematician and mathematics book author. Education and personal life Margaret Waugh was born on February 23, 1926, in Willimantic, Connecticut. Her father w ...

, won the

Lester R. Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...

of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

for a paper on the rational approximation of

square root In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that ; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or  ⋅ ) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16, because . E ...

s. A collection of Waugh's selected works was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1984. His memorabilia from the Army Ambulance Service is collected in the University of Massachusetts Amherst library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waugh, Frederick V. 1898 births 1974 deaths Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) 20th-century American economists Agricultural economists Massachusetts Agricultural College alumni Rutgers University alumni Columbia University alumni Fellows of the American Statistical Association Fellows of the Econometric Society