John R. Commons
| John R. Commons | |
|---|---|
John R. Commons
|
|
| Born |
October 13, 1862 Hollansburg, Ohio |
| Died | May 11, 1945 (aged 82) Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Institutional economics, labor history |
| School or tradition |
Institutional economics |
| Influences |
Richard T. Ely Henry Dunning Macleod |
| Influenced |
Edwin E. Witte Gunnar Myrdal Herbert Simon Oliver Williamson Herbert A. Simon |
John Rogers Commons (/ˈkɑːmənz/; October 13, 1862 – May 11, 1945) was an American institutional economist, Georgist, progressive and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
John R. Commons was born in Hollansburg, Ohio on October 13, 1862. Commons had a religious upbringing which led him to be an advocate for social justice early in life. Commons was considered a poor student and suffered from a mental illness while studying. He was allowed to graduate without finishing because of the potential seen in his intense determination and curiosity. At this time, Commons became a follower of Henry George's 'single tax' economics. He carried this 'Georgist' or 'Ricardian' approach to economics, with a focus on land and monopoly rents, throughout the rest of his life, including a proposal for income taxes with higher rates on land rents.
After graduating from Oberlin College, Commons did two years of graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he studied under Richard T. Ely, but left without a degree. After appointments at Oberlin and Indiana University, Commons began teaching at Syracuse University in 1895.
In spring 1899, Syracuse dismissed him as a radical. Eventually Commons re-entered academia at the University of Wisconsin in 1904.
Commons' early work exemplified his desire to unite Christian ideals with the emerging social sciences of sociology and economics. He was a frequent contributor to Kingdom magazine, was a founder of the American Institute for Christian Sociology, and authored a book in 1894 called Social Reform and the Church. He was an advocate of temperance legislation and was active in the national Prohibition Party. By his Wisconsin years, Commons' scholarship had become less moralistic and more empirical, however.
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