Spengler was born in Piqua, Ohio. He graduated from the Piqua High School and initially studied journalism at college, but dropped out after his first year to become a crime reporter.[4] A year later he returned to higher education, at first studying sociology and political science, but eventually gravitating to economics. He received his B.A., M.A., and PhD from Ohio State University, where his 1930 doctoral dissertation was a comparative study on the fertility rates of native-born and immigrant women in the United States.[5] After a stint teaching at the University of Arizona he joined the faculty of Duke University in 1932, initially as a visiting professor, and became a permanent member of the faculty in 1934.[6] He was to remain there until his retirement as the James B. Duke Professor of Economics in 1972. With Earl J. Hamilton, Spengler established the university's first graduate level program in Economic History as well as the History of Political Economy (HOPE) research group.[7]
During World War II, he worked for the Office of Price Administration as the price executive for the Southeastern region of the United States and over the years held several other advisory posts to the US government and the United Nations. His interest in population studies and the demographic aspects of economics reflected in his doctoral dissertation, became a major focus of his research and writing throughout his career. His first book, France Faces Depopulation, published in 1938, examined the cultural and political causes of France's pre-World War II population decline,[8] and one of his last major books was The Economics of Individual and Population Aging, published in 1980. In 1972, Duke University Press published a collection of his classic essays in the area: Population Economics: Selected Essays of Joseph J. Spengler.
Joseph Spengler died in Durham, North Carolina from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 88.[9] He was survived by his wife, the former Dorothy Marie Kress. The couple married in 1927 and were co-authors of "Maintenance of Postwar Full Employment" (1944).[10][11] Spengler's 1978 book, Facing Zero Population Growth: Reactions and Interpretations, Past and Present has the dedication:
To Dorothy Kress Spengler, my wife, companion, and co-worker for fifty years[12]
^History of Economics Society, Distinguished Fellow Awards Archived 2011-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
^American Philosophical Society, John Frederick Lewis Awards
^"Interview with Joseph J. Spengler," Oeconophile, Vol. 1, No. 2, January 1974 Archived 2012-07-12 at archive.today reprinted in the Duke University Archives
^Spengler, Joseph J. The comparative fertility of the native and the foreign-born women in parts of the United States, Ohio State University Library catalog entry.
^"APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
^"Joseph John Spengler". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
^History of Economics Society, Joseph J. Spengler Prize Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
Sourcesedit
Cook, Joan, "Joseph Spengler, 88, Economics Professor At Duke University", New York Times, 3 January 1991.
Cook, Robert Cecil (ed.), "Spengler, Joseph John", Who's Who in American Education: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Living Educators of the United States, Volume 8, 1938
Durden, Robert Franklin, The Launching of Duke University, 1924-1949, Duke University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8223-1302-2
Kelley, Allen C., "Joseph J. Spengler (November 19, 1902-January 2, 1991)", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 136, No. 1, (March 1992), pp. 142–147
Silk, Leonard, "The Rich Legacy of an Economist", New York Times, 4 January 1991
Spengler, Dorothy K. and Spengler, Joseph J, "Maintenance of Postwar Full Employment" in The Winning Plans in the Pabst Postwar Employment Awards, Pabst Brewing Company, 1944, pp. 79–83
Spengler, Joseph J. Facing Zero Population Growth: Reactions and Interpretations, Past and Present, Duke University Press, 1978.
Further reading
Blaug, Mark (ed.), "Spengler, Joseph L.", Who's Who in Economics (3d edition), E. Elgar, 1999. ISBN 1-85898-886-1
Silk, Leonard, "The Economics of Joseph J. Spengler", Demography India, 14 (1), 1986, pp. 137–145
Sobel, Irvin, "Joseph J. Spengler: The Institutionalist Approach to the History of Economics" in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol.1, 1983, pp. 243–270.
External linksedit
Transcript from Spengler's Retirement Dinner, Duke University, January 14, 1972
CV: Joseph J. Spengler, Duke University Archives.
Joseph J. Spengler, Duke University
Joseph John Spengler Papers, [ca. 1896]-1987, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.