----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Others on this list will be far more expert than I on this, but I can't resist offering some suggestions. One source to turn to for the first American professor of Political Economy or Economics -- and the exact title here probably does matter -- would be Joseph Dorfman's _The Economic Mind in American civilization, 1606-1865 -- i.e. the first two volumes. My quick perusal did not yield a clear answer on who exactaly was first in America to hold an academic chair specifically devoted to economics/political economy-- but there are some candidates for "early" econ profs. One would be Francis Wayland, who was President of Brown and who according to Dorfman introduced a course on the subject to Brown's curriculum in the late 1820's (along with a course on "Evidences of Revelation" though Wayland's actually professorwhip according to Dorfman was in Moral Philosophy. In 1837, Wayland published one of the early (though I don't think) first textbooks on Political Economy written by an American. A possible earlier candidate would be the Rev. John McVickar, who according to Dorfman , "was professor of the subject [i.e. Political Economy] at Columbia, apparently in the late teens adn early to mid 1820's. Though Dorfman also indicates that McVickar also often signed himself as "Professor of Moral Philosophy, etc." -- I suppose leaving open whether Political Economy came under the heading of Moral Philosophy or of "etc." Dorfman indicates that in the early national period, Political economy was "Merely a branch of moral philosophy" and entitled to at best a few lectures. But as the above suggests there was some activity in teaching economics during this period in hgher education. Perhaps a more careful scrutiny of Dorfman would yield an answer to the question of who was the first to hold a position clearly designated for political economy in a U.S. college or university. But part of the issue here is whether this is what the query is about versus who were some of the earlier teachers of the subject even if their position was clearly not assigned as such. Wayland and McVickar would seem to have been early teachers of political economy in prominent positions, even if they did not hold professorships specifically desgnated for political economy. David Mitch University of Maryland Baltimore County ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]