William Trufant Foster (January 18, 1879 – October 8, 1950), was an American educator and economist, whose theories were especially influential in the 1920s. He was the first president of
Reed College.
Early life and education
Foster was born in
Boston, Massachusetts on January 18, 1879. He attended
Roxbury High School in Boston. He graduated from
Harvard University with an A.B. in 1901 and an A.M. in 1904.
Career
Foster was an instructor of English at
Bates College in Maine, from 1901–03 and served as a coach of Bates' internationally known debate program. Foster was also professor of English and Argumentation at
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
in Maine in 1905. He authored "Argumentation and Debating", published in 1908. Foster eventually received a Ph.D. in 1911 from Teachers College,
Columbia University.
His conception of "the ideal college" set out in the concluding chapter of his dissertation, led to his appointment as the first president of
Reed College. He served from 1911 to 1919. He rejected intercollegiate sports and Greek life in favor of an intense academic education. He fostered close intellectual collaboration between faculty and students. He treated undergraduates as if they were graduate students and created a system of small seminars, comprehensive examinations, undergraduate research, and senior theses.
He was director of the
Pollak Foundation of Economic Research from 1920 to 1950, in
Newton, Massachusetts, where he emphasized the need to protect consumer interests.
Economics
He collaborated with his Harvard classmate
Waddill Catchings in a series of economics books that were highly influential in the United States in the 1920s. His influential books, written with Catchings, were ''Money'' (1923), ''Profits'' (1925), ''Business Without a Buyer'' (1927), ''The Road to Plenty'' (1928), and ''Progress and Plenty'' (1930).
With Catchings, he was one of the leading pre-
Keynesian economists, in the
underconsumptionist tradition, advocating similar issues to Keynes such as the
paradox of thrift and
economic interventionism
Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...
. The two are now rarely mentioned in contemporary economics texts, standing as they do in the shadow of Keynes's ''
The General Theory.''
Foster and Catchings rejected traditional
laissez-faire economics and called for aggressive federal involvement to balance the economy lest destabilizing forces upset prosperity. The main problem was
underconsumption, which could be overcome by strategic government spending in
public works. The theory strongly influenced the anti-depression programs of
Herbert Hoover,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman
Marriner Eccles.
See also
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References
External links
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* ''
Should Students Study?
William Trufant Foster (January 18, 1879 – October 8, 1950), was an American educator and economist, whose theories were especially influential in the 1920s. He was the first president of Reed College.
Early life and education
Foster was born ...
'' at
Wikisource
''Should Students Study?''hosted by Harper's Magazine
* William Trufant Foster edited and contributed three chapters to "The Social Emergency: Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals". The work was based on an extension course given at Reed College.
*
Introducing Foster and Catchings' a
Reviving Growth Keynesianism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, William Trufant
1879 births
1950 deaths
American economics writers
American male non-fiction writers
Bates College faculty
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
Economics educators
Education in Portland, Oregon
Harvard University alumni
Macroeconomists
Presidents of Reed College
Economists from Oregon
20th-century American economists