Field, James Alfred
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James Alfred Field (May 26, 1880 – July 16, 1927) was an American economist and Professor of Political Economy at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, known as one of the proponents of
institutional economics Institutional economics focuses on understanding the role of the Sociocultural evolution, evolutionary process and the role of institutions in shaping Economy, economic Human behavior, behavior. Its original focus lay in Thorstein Veblen's instin ...
Malcolm Rutherford (2011). ''The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics.'' p. 126-151 and as
demographer Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...
, who contributed to the theory of population and its history.


Life and work

James Alfred Field obtained was born on May 26, 1880, in
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...
, to Caroline Leslie (née Whitney) and James Alfred Field. He attended
Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...
. He obtained a MS in economics at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1903, and continued to do post-graduate work at Harvard for two years and at the
University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
for a year as the Jacob Wendall scholar.Frank Moore Colby, Allen Leon Churchill, Herbert Treadwell Wade (1928) ''The New international year book.'' p. 286 Field started his academic career in 1903 as assistant in economics at Harvard University, and became Austin teaching fellow in economics from 1904 to 1905, and instructor in 1906 to 1908. From 1906 to 1908 he was also instructor in economics at
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...
. In 1908 he started at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
as instructor in economics, and was promoted assistant professor in 1910, associate professor in 1913, and full professor in 1918 until his death in 1927. In the year 1923-24 he was also dean of the College of Arts and Literature. Field was also known as founding president of the
Illinois Birth Control League The Illinois Birth Control League (IBCL) was an organization created by the Chicago Citizens' Committee and the Chicago Woman's Club, to provide information and education about birth control. Later, the organization helped create the first birth ...
, and associate editor of the ''
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 ...
.'' In 1917, he was special investigator for the
Council of National Defense The Council of National Defense was a United States organization formed during World War I to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial s ...
in its division of
statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. From 1918 to 1919, he was chief statistician of the Allied Maritime Transport Council in London.. He was elected fellow of the
American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...
.


Work

Field came into prominence in the years from 1913 to 1919, when he was involved with professor of Economics Leon C. Marshall and the economic historian Chester W. Wright in "attempts to move economics instruction away from the 'rigorous drill in orthodox theory' or the 'straight-jacket of conventional theory' to a method of instruction emphasizing the development of economic institutions, inquiry into current problems and issues, and fostering of creativity and originality (field 1917). To this end, they produced a book of readings to supplement the usual texts (Marshall, Wright, and Field 1913)."Malcolm Rutherford (2011). ''The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics.'' p. 132


''Essays on population, and other papers,'' 1931

In a 1931 review of
Essays on population, and other papers...
in ''The Eugenics Review'' Norman E. Himes (1899–1949), wrote:
THIS volume, by one of the greatest demographers America has produced, is a notable contribution to population thought and its history. An original, meticulously accurate scholar, Field has, unfortunately, been little known to European, and especially to Continental scholars. It is a great service, therefore, that one of his students should collect his more important scattered papers and notes, and edit them so ably. The solidity of the volume is matched by a felicity of literary presentation rarely found among economic writers; a combination especially refreshing in this day in America when, with growing numbers in our colleges, almost every underpaid professor becomes the hack author of a dull, poorly-written text-book.
The range of topics is wide. Part I contains twelve essays on eugenics, birth control, and Malthusianism, the treatment being essentially historical and critical. Part II collects three papers on economics and statistics, while Part III is a catalogue of the author's library on population. Since the Dictionary of American Biography has failed to include the career of Field, it is fitting that the editor has added a short biography together with a distinctive photograph of the author.Himes, Norman E.
Essays on population and other papers by James Alfred Field, together with material from his notes and lectures compiled and edited by Helen Fisher Hohman, with a foreword by James Bonar, LL. D.
''The Eugenics Review'' 23.3 (1931): 258-261.
And more specific about its content:
I have always felt-perhaps there is a personal bias-that Essay III on "The Early Propagandist Movement in English Population Theory" was the best paper Field ever published. I know of no finer example of historico-economic research in the English language, no matter what tests are applied. Though Professor
Graham Wallas Graham Wallas (31 May 1858 – 9 August 1932) was an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, a leader of the Fabian Society and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Biography Born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, Walla ...
deserves credit also, it is not an ungenerous distinction to say that Field was the first scholar to appraise in full measure
Francis Place Francis Place (3 November 1771, London – 1 January 1854, London) was an English social reformer described as "a ubiquitous figure in the machinery of radical London." Background and early life He was an illegitimate son of Simon Place and M ...
's efforts for birth control at the beginning of the last century. Much of the Place correspondence which Dr. Stopes has upon various occasions claimed to have " discovered " was known to, and used by, Field.
Essays IV, V, and IX are specifically on eugenics. They are Galtonian in idealism; but the author is mindful of the numerous difficulties. The article reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Economics is an excellent historical and critical review of euge-nical literature produced up to the time of publication (1911). Regrettably, the author never followed it up.


Personal life

Field married Amy Morehead Walker, daughter of judge Charles M. Walker, on September 17, 1914. They had two sons, James Alfred Jr. and Charles Walker. Field died of a brain tumor on July 15, 1927, in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
.


Selected publications

* Field, James Alfred. ''Progress of Eugenics'' * Marshall, Leon Carroll, Chester Whitney Wright, and James Alfred Field.
Outlines of Economics Developed in a Series of Problems
'' University of Chicago Press, 1910, 1911, 1912. * Field, James Alfred; Marshall, Leon Carroll; Wright, Chester Whitney.
Materials For the Study of Elementary Economics
', University of Chicago Press, 1913. * Field, James Alfred.
Essays on population, and other papers
'' No. 1. Richard s Barnes & Co, 1931.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, James Alfred 1880 births 1927 deaths American business theorists University of Chicago alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Radcliffe College faculty University of Chicago faculty People from Milton, Massachusetts Economists from Massachusetts Deaths from brain cancer in the United States 20th-century American economists