Hugh Gardner Ackley (June 30, 1915 – February 12, 1998) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, 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 ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. Ackley served as a member of the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

under President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

, and as the Chairman under President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

from 1964 to 1968. He also served as Ambassador to Italy from 1968 to 1969. Ackley was a member of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

faculty for 43 years and served as chair of its Economics department. Upon returning to the University following his ambassadorship, he was named the Henry Carter Adams Professor of Political Economy. In 1982 he served as president 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 ...

.McDowell, Edwin
"H. Gardner Ackley, 82, Dies; Presidential Economic Adviser"

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, February 21, 1998. Ackley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1915, and was raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he attended public schools and graduated from

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

in 1936. He earned a Ph.D from the University of Michigan in 1940, and joined the faculty that year. He served in the U.S.

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 ...

and the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

in Washington, D.C., from 1941 to 1946 and as assistant director of the U.S. Office of Price Stabilization from 1951 to 1952."H. Gardner Ackley, Obituary"
The University Record, University of Michigan, February 25, 1998. Ackley believed that government had a definite role in fine tuning the economy, using both fiscal and monetary intervention. He warned President Johnson in 1966 that a tax increase was needed to finance the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the increased social welfare spending that Johnson was undertaking. Johnson did not ask for a tax increase, and economists, including

Paul Samuelson Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...

, believed this was the cause of the inflation of the 1970s. Ackley was the author of the popular graduate-level textbook ''Macroeconomic Theory'', which was translated into several languages and remained the standard advanced text during the 1960s and early 1970s. He was awarded a fellowship from the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1968 and another fellowship from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1972.

Selected publications

* "Relative Prices and Aggregate Consumer Demand", with D.B. Suits, 1950,

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious and highly distinguished journals in the field of ec ...

. * "The Wealth-Saving Relationship",

Journal of Political Economy The ''Journal of Political Economy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. Established by James Laurence Laughlin in 1892, it covers both theoretical and empirical economics. In the past, the ...

, 1951. * "Administered Prices and the Inflationary Process", American Economic Review, 1959. * Macroeconomic Theory, Macmillan Company, 1961; republished as Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy, 1978. * Stemming World Inflation, The

Atlantic Institute The Atlantic Institute (full name, Atlantic Institute for International Affairs) was an independent, non-governmental institute that promoted economic, political, and cultural relations among NATO alliance members and the international community in ...

, 1971. * "An Incomes Policy for the 1970s",

Review of Economics and Statistics ''The'' ''Review of Economics and Statistics'' is a peer-reviewed 103-year-old general journal that focuses on applied economics, with specific relevance to the scope of quantitative economics. The ''Review'', edited at the Harvard University’s K ...

, 1972. * Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy, Macmillan Library Reference 1978. * "The Costs of Inflation", American Economic Review, 1978.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackley, Gardner 1915 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American economists Ambassadors of the United States to Italy Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association Economists from Michigan Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Macroeconomists Presidents of the American Economic Association University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty Western Michigan University alumni Writers from Kalamazoo, Michigan Chairs of the United States Council of Economic Advisers 20th-century American diplomats Members of the American Philosophical Society