Walter Wolfgang Heller (27 August 1915 – 15 June 1987) was a leading

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 of the 1960s, and an influential adviser to President John F. Kennedy as chairman 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 rese ...

, 1961–64.

Life and career

Heller was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, to German immigrants, Gertrude (Warmburg) and Ernst Heller, a civil engineer. After attending Shorewood High School in

Shorewood, Wisconsin Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,859 at the 2020 census. History In the early 19th century when the first European American settlers arrived, the Shorewood area was controlled by Nativ ...

, he entered

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

in 1931, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1935. Heller received his masters and doctorate degrees in economics from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. As a

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

, he promoted cuts in the marginal federal income tax rates. This tax cut, which was passed by 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 ...

and Congress after Kennedy's death, was credited for boosting the U.S. economy. Heller developed the first "voluntary" wage-price guidelines. When the steel industry failed to follow them, it was publicly attacked by Kennedy and quickly complied. Heller was one of the first to emphasize that

tax deduction Tax deduction is a reduction of income that is able to be taxed and is commonly a result of expenses, particularly those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits ...

s and tax preferences narrowed the income tax base, thus requiring, for a given amount of revenue, higher marginal tax rates. The historic tax cut and its positive effect on the economy has often been cited as motivation for more recent tax cuts by Republicans. The day after Kennedy was assassinated, Heller met with President Johnson in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped roo ...

. To get the country going again, Heller suggested a major initiative he called the "

War on Poverty The war on poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a nationa ...

", which Johnson adopted enthusiastically. Later, when Johnson insisted on escalating the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

without raising taxes, setting the stage for an inflationary spiral, Heller resigned. In the early phases of his career, Heller contributed to the creation of 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 ...

of 1947, and was instrumental in re-establishing the German currency following

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, which helped usher an economic boom in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. Heller was critical of

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

's followers and labelled them cultish: "Some of them are Friedmanly, some Friedmanian, some Friedmanesque, some Friedmanic and some Friedmaniacs." Heller joined the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

faculty as an associate professor of economics in 1945, left for a few years to serve in government, and returned in the 1960s, eventually serving as chair of the Department of Economics. He built it into a top-ranked department with spectacular hires, including future Nobel Prize winners

Leonid Hurwicz Leonid Hurwicz (; August 21, 1917 – June 24, 2008) was a Polish-American economist and mathematician, known for his work in game theory and mechanism design. He originated the concept of incentive compatibility, and showed how desired outcome ...

(2007), Edward C. Prescott (2004),

Thomas J. Sargent Thomas John Sargent (born July 19, 1943) is an American economist and the W.R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University. He specializes in the fields of macroeconomics, monetary economics, and time series econometric ...

(2011) and Christopher A. Sims (2011). Heller was elected to 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, a ...

in 1962 and 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 1975. Heller died in

Silverdale, Washington Silverdale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, in the United States. The population was 19,204 at the 2010 census. Despite many attempts at incorporation, Silverdale remains an unincorporated community. Silverdale ...

on June 15, 1987 at the age of 71. In 1999, the University of Minnesota renamed the Management and Economics Tower, located on the West Bank of their Minneapolis campus, Walter W. Heller Hall in honor of the late Walter Heller. The building houses student advising services in addition to providing classroom space. In 2010, the University of Minnesota Department of Economics announced the creation of th
Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute
honoring the legacies of Walter Heller and fellow Minnesota faculty member

References

Primary sources

* Heller, Walter. ''Monetary vs. Fiscal Policy (a dialogue with Milton Friedman)''. 1969. * Heller, Walter. ''New Dimensions of Political Economy''. 1966.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heller, Walter 1915 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American economists American people of German descent Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association Economists from Washington (state) Economists from Wisconsin Keynesians Macroeconomists Oberlin College alumni Presidents of the American Economic Association Scientists from Milwaukee People from Silverdale, Washington University of Michigan faculty University of Minnesota faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni Chairs of the United States Council of Economic Advisers Members of the American Philosophical Society