Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1873 |
| Died | May 24, 1953 (aged 80) |
| Education | A.B., summa cum laude, 1894 Ph.D., 1897 |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation(s) | Professor of finance and business, Harvard University |
| Years active | 1898-1941 |
| Notable work | History of Crises under the National Banking System (1910) |
| Spouse | Fanny Knights Ide |
| Children | Katherine Ida Theodore Wentworth |
| Parent(s) | William Wallace and Miriam (Wentworth) Sprague |
Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague (22 April 1873 - 24 May 1953), professionally referenced as O.M.W. Sprague in publications, was a professor at Harvard Business School specializing in banking, monetary economics and financial crises. He played an important role in the debate over the Federal Reserve Act. Though he opposed the creation of a U.S. central bank, he wrote an important government report, History of Crises under the National Banking System (1910) for the National Monetary Commission. The study remains a classic in the field today. He was appointed an advisor to Treasury Secretary William Woodin in 1933, but resigned after only a few months over disagreements with the Roosevelt administration over currency policies of the New Deal.
Early life
editHe attended secondary school at St. Johnsbury Academy.
Role in the Federal Reserve Act
editThe Depression of the 1930s and the New Deal
editHe was the chief economic adviser to the Bank of England from 1930 to 1933.[1] He served as a member of the Gold Delegation of the League of Nations.
President Roosevelt had taken courses with Sprague at Harvard.[2] Owing in part to Sprague's experience as adviser to the Bank of England, he was appointed by Roosevelt as a special adviser to the Treasury. His assignment was to stabilize the sterling-dollar exchange rate and help represent the United States at the London Economic Conference. On 22 May 1933 Treasury Secretary Woodin took Sprague to the White House to meet with the President, Federal Reserve Chairman Eugene Black and Undersecretary of the Treasury Dean Acheson. The next day the announcement of the appointment was made.[2]
References
editBibliography
editWorks by Sprague
edit- Books
- Sprague, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth (1910). History of Crises Under the National Banking System (PDF). National Monetary Commission, Senate, 61st Congress, Second Session, Document No. 538. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
- Sprague, O.M.W. (1934). Recovery and Common Sense. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company.
- Academic journal articles
- Sprague, O.M.W. (January 1937). "Prerequisites to Monetary Stabilization". Foreign Affairs. 15 (2). Council on Foreign Relations: 303–310. doi:10.2307/20028767.
- Newspaper articles
- Sprague, O.M.W. (21 May 1918). "How Inflation Hinders War". New York Tribune. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 26, 119. New York, N.Y. p. 10 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
- Sprague, O.M.W. (9 June 1918). "Billions Available by Painless Taxation". New York Tribune. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 26, 138. New York, N.Y. p. 5, sec. 3 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
Works cited
edit- "Dr. Sprague, Economist, Dies; Noted Harvard Professor". Boston Globe. Boston, Mass. 25 May 1953. pp. 1, 5.
- Cole, Arthur H.; Masson, Robert L.; Williams, John H. (March 1954). "Memorial: O.M.W. Sprague, 1873-1953". The American Economic Review. 44 (1). American Economic Association: 131–132. JSTOR 1803068.
- Dimand, Robert W. (Autumn 2003). "Competing Visions for the U.S. Monetary System, 1907-1913: The Quest for an Elastic Currency and the Rejection of Fisher's Compensated Dollar Rule for Price Stability" [Papers in Political Economy]. Cahiers d'économie politique (45). Harmattan: 101–121. JSTOR 43107585.
- Rockoff, Hugh, O.M.W. Sprague (the Man who "Wrote the Book" on Financial Crises) and the Founding of the Federal Reserve, NBER Working Paper 19758, Cambridge, Mass., December 2013