Jeremiah Jenks

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Jeremiah Whipple Jenks, Ph.D., LL.D. (1856—1929) was an American economist and educator, born at St. Clair, Mich. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1878, studied for several years in Germany, taking his doctorate from the University of Halle in 1885, and after his return to the United States, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He held professorships at both Cornell University (1891-1912) and New York University (1912 onward). Professor Jenks was especially interested in the political aspects of economic problems and he served frequently on various government commissions and made many reports on currency, labor, and immigration issues.

Jenks was a member of the U.S. Commission on International Exchange. He was appointed in 1907 a member of the United States Immigration Commission. He advised the governments of Mexico, Nicaragua, Germany and China on matters of financial policy, visiting Peking in 1904. He was also an active member of the National Civic Federation where in 1908 he helped to draft a bill to amend the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Although that bill was ultimately unsuccessful, Jenks also sat on the four-man committee headed by John Bates Clark which drafted a preliminary version of the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act.

His books include The Trust Problem (1900), The Immigration Problem (with W. J. Lauck, 1911), Principles of Politics (1909), and Governmental Action for Social Welfare (1910).

Today, he is also remembered for his association with Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek.