# Benjamin Anderson
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{{Short description|American economist (1886–1949)}}
{{Other people}}
{{More citations needed|biography|date=July 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox economist
| name = Benjamin Anderson
| school_tradition = [Austrian School](/source/Austrian_School_of_Economics)
| image = Benjamin McAlester Anderson Jr. (1886–1949).png
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|05|01}}
| birth_place = [Columbia, Missouri](/source/Columbia%2C_Missouri), U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|1|19|1886|5|1}}
| death_place = [Santa Monica, California](/source/Santa_Monica%2C_California), U.S.
| institution =
| field = [Economics](/source/Economics)
| alma_mater =
| influences = [Ludwig von Mises](/source/Ludwig_von_Mises)
| contributions =
| awards =
| signature =
}}
'''Benjamin McAlester Anderson Jr.''' (May 1, 1886 – January 19, 1949) was an American [economist](/source/economics) of the [Austrian School](/source/Austrian_School).[{{cite journal |author= |title= DR. B. M. Anderson, Economist, is Dead: Professor of Banking at UCLA, Had Served Chase National Bank - Author of Many Books |journal = The New York Times |date= January 20, 1949 |page= 27}}; {{cite journal |author= |title= Benjamin M. Anderson |journal = The New York Times |date= January 20, 1949 |page= 26 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/01/20/archives/benjamin-m-anderson.html}}][{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6Q_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA606 |title=The Alumni Record of the University of Illinois |editor-first=James Herbert |editor-last=Kelley |publisher=[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign) |page=606 |date=1913 |access-date=2023-05-03 |via=Google Books}}] When he was sixteen years old, Anderson enrolled in classes at the [University of Missouri](/source/University_of_Missouri) in his hometown and earned his [A.B.](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) in 1906. After receiving his bachelor's degree, Anderson accepted an appointment as professor of political economy and sociology at [Missouri Valley College](/source/Missouri_Valley_College), where he remained for a year before becoming head of the department of political economy and sociology at the State Normal School (later known as [Missouri State University](/source/Missouri_State_University)) in [Springfield, Missouri](/source/Springfield%2C_Missouri).
Anderson soon became a degree-seeking student again, this time pursuing his [A.M.](/source/Master_of_Arts) from the [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign). He completed his master's degree in 1910 and finished his [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) only a year later. Part of his dissertation was later published as ''Social Value: A Study in Economic Theory, Critical and Constructive''.[[Thornton, Mark](/source/Mark_Thornton). [https://www.mises.org/content/benand.asp "Who is Benjamin Anderson?"] ''Mises.org'']
==Career==
After earning his doctoral degree, Anderson taught at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) and then [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).[{{Cite web|url=https://mises.org/library/value-money|title=The Value of Money|date=August 11, 2000|website=Mises Institute}}] He left Harvard to join [New York City](/source/New_York_City)'s National Bank of Commerce in 1918.
He remained with NBC for only two years, however, before [Chase National Bank](/source/Chase_National_Bank) hired him as an economist and as the new editor of the bank's ''Chase Economic Bulletin''. It was during this time that the scope of Anderson's writing widened to include:
{{Blockquote|...articles critical of progressive policy in such diverse areas as money, credit, international economic policy, agriculture, taxation, war, government debt, and economic planning. He was a leading opponent of the [New Deal](/source/New_Deal) and an enthusiastic supporter of a free market [gold standard](/source/gold_standard).[{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-ucla-professor-dies-following/123999189/ |title=UCLA professor dies following heart attack |newspaper=[Daily News](/source/Illustrated_Daily_News) |publication-place=Los Angeles |page=8 |date=1949-01-19 |access-date=2023-05-03 |via=Newspapers.com}}]
==Academic influence==
[Henry Hazlitt](/source/Henry_Hazlitt), who is often cited as having popularized Austrian economics in the English-speaking world, credits Anderson with acquainting him with the work of [Ludwig von Mises](/source/Ludwig_von_Mises) and other Austrians. Explains Hazlitt:
{{Blockquote|I was very lucky in my friendships and lucky in the books I chose. I read a book by Benjamin M. Anderson, whom I later got to know. This was his 1917 book ''The Value of Money''. He was an acute critic of nearly all other writers on money, and especially of [Irving Fisher](/source/Irving_Fisher) and his mechanical quantity theory of money. Mac Anderson read German, and discussed many German writers on money. He referred to the German edition of Ludwig von Mises's ''[Theory of Money and Credit](/source/The_Theory_of_Money_and_Credit)'' and wrote: "In von Mises there seems to me to be very noteworthy clarity and power. His ''Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel'' is an exceptionally excellent book." That impressed me.[[https://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen5_1_1.asp "An Interview with Henry Hazlitt"]. ''Austrian Economics Newsletter''. [Mises Institute](/source/Mises_Institute). Spring 1984.]}}
According to Mises, Anderson was "one of the outstanding characters in this age of the supremacy of time-servers."