William Archibald Mackintosh, (May 21, 1895 – December 29, 1970) was a Canadian economist and political scientist, and was the twelfth principal of

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

from 1951 until 1961. He is best known for developing the

staple thesis In economic development, the staples thesis is a theory of export-led growth. The theory "has its origins in research into Canadian social, political, and economic history carried out in Canadian universities...by members of what were then known as ...

that explains

Canadian economic history Canadian history, Canadian historians until the 1960s tended to focus on the history of Canada's economy because of the far fewer political, economic, religious and military conflicts present in Canadian history than in other societies. Many of t ...

in terms of a series of exports of staple products – fish, fur, timber, and wheat. Born in Madoc, Ontario, he received his BA and MA from Queen's in 1916. He received his PhD from Harvard University. From 1922 to 1939 he was a professor of economics at Queen's. During the Second World War, he was an assistant to the Deputy Minister of Finance in Ottawa and later in the Department of Reconstruction and Supply. He was appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1946. After the war he was the dean of arts and science at Queen's until becoming principal in 1951, the first principal who was a Queen's graduate. He was a director of the

Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; french: Banque du Canada) is a Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: Ca ...

and a member of its executive committee. In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and received the Innis-Gérin Medal, awarded for a distinguished and sustained contribution to the literature of the social sciences, from the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

, of which he was a fellow and was president from 1956 to 1957. Mackintosh-Corry Hall at Queen's is co-named in his honour. He married Jean Isobel Easton (1902–1983) in 1928.

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