Posted on 01/17/2007 8:53:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Harvard economist Richard Musgrave, who advised governments ranging from the United States to Myanmar on public finance and taxation, has died. He was 96.
Musgrave died of natural causes Monday at his home in Santa Cruz, Calif., his wife, Peggy Boswell Musgrave, told the university. Musgrave was an adjunct professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
"Richard Musgrave was a giant - a towering figure who transformed the field of public economics," David Cutler, a Harvard economics professor, said in a statement.
Musgrave began advising governments in the 1940s. He led tax reform commissions in Colombia and Bolivia, and advised governments in Chile, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Japan and South Korea, according to Harvard.
He also served as a consultant to the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve's board of governors and the World Bank.
Among his influential books were "The Theory of Public Finance: A Study in Public Economy," published in 1958, and "Public Finance in Theory and Practice," written with his wife and published in 1973.
Born in Koenigstein, Germany, Musgrave earned an undergraduate degree in 1933 and got his Ph.D from Harvard in 1937.
Musgrave taught at Swarthmore College, the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University before joining Harvard in 1965 as an economics professor. He was named professor emeritus at Harvard in 1981 and became an adjunct professor at Santa Cruz, where he remained affiliated through 2004.
He is survived by his wife and three stepchildren.
My undergrad textbook for public finance was Musgrave & Musgrave... RIP
What is it about economist that makes them live so long? Milton Freidman lived forever too.
My undergrad textbook was by Paul Samuelson. Good grief.
I didn't know any better back in the early '70s.
RIP.
What is it about economist that makes them live so long? Milton Freidman lived forever too.
--
Interesting observation.
Maybe they eat very frugally and cautiously.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.