This post is another in the series “Meet an Economics Ph.D.” It offers several items about the life and career of Harvard economics Ph.D. (1952), Barbara Benton Reagan. A few years before she died, she was interviewed about the history of the economics department at Southern Methodist University. A link to the video is provided as the first item. A note in the University of Texas alumni magazine from 1966 is then followed by her 2002 obituary. Links (to jstor.org) for her work on women in economics are included at the end of the post.
Barbara Reagan was a founding member of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.
Fun Fact: Barbara Reagan’s daughter, Patricia, received a Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T. (1980) and went on to join the Department of Economics at Ohio State University. This is only the second mother-daughter economist pair thus far at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror (the first was Nancy and Patricia Ruggles).
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Oral history of Southern Methodist University’s department of economics
Betty Maynard interviews Barbara Reagan, Professor Emerita of Economics, on October 27, 2000. (57 minute interview)
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From the University of Texas Alumni Magazine
Lady home-farm economist
The only woman on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Advisory Committee is Dr. Barbara Benton Reagan, BS in HE ’41 with honors, a professor at Texas Women’s University, Denton.
Dr. Reagan is also the only woman member of the advisory committee to the Agriculture Policy Institute, chairman of the research committee of the Texas Association of College Teachers, a member of the T.W.U. Graduate Council, and the author of many published analyses and studies.
The committee concerned with economic research is composed of 11 men and R. Reagan, and they recently reviewed more than $12,000,000 worth of research. The results of their surveys are used by nutritionists, marketing experts and others.
At T.W.U., she is professor of home management and family economics, as well as director of Ph.D. and M.A. theses programs.
A onetime Ferguson Fellow at Harvard, Dr. Reagan is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and is listed in Who’s Who of American Women, and the forthcoming Who’s Who in American Education.
Her husband, Dr. Sidney Reagan, BBA ’37 with honors, LL.B. ’41, is chairman of S.M.U.’s department of general business and has charge of the university’s real-estate program. They live in Dallas.Source: The Alcade (University of Texas Alumni Magazine), April, 1966, p. 37.
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Obituary for Barbara Benton Reagan
[31 May 1920 San Antonio TX—9 Dec 2002 Dallas TX]
REAGAN, BARBARA BENTON, was born May 31, 1920, in San Antonio to Colonel William Benton and Cora Martin Benton. She was reared by her beloved aunt, Phoebe Benton Ulrich, after the death of her mother during the 1928 polio epidemic. She received her early schooling through high school in San Antonio and won a scholarship to Mary Baldwin College 1937. The following year she transferred to the University of Texas in Austin, where she served as President of the campus YWCA and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She met her husband, Sydney Reagan, at a YWCA Retreat in New Braunfels in 1939 when he was President of the Student Body. She received her BS degree with honors in 1941. Barbara and Sydney Reagan were married September 1, 1941, in Indianapolis. They moved to Washington, D.C., where she earned an MA in Statistics from American University in 1947. They both attended Harvard University, where she earned a PhD in Economics in 1952. Her dissertation advisor was the eminent agricultural economist John D. Black. During her years at Harvard, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She was a noted scholar specializing in employment and labor market discrimination. Barbara and Sydney returned to Washington, where they both served as economists in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their daughter, Patricia, was born in 1954. Their son, Sydney, was born in 1955. The family moved to Dallas in 1955, when Sydney took as a position as Professor of Economics at Southern Methodist University. Barbara returned to work in 1959 as a Professor of Home Economics at Texas Woman’s University. She was named Professor of Economics at Southern Methodist University in 1967, where she remained until her retirement in 1990. She served as Department Chair 1984-1990. During her tenure at SMU, she served as Assistant to the President for Student Academic Services with line responsibility for the Office of Admissions, Registrar, and Financial Aid (1975-76). She was President of the Faculty Senate 1981-1982. Barbara published numerous articles in academic journals, including the American Economic Review and Journal of Economic Literature. She published several books, including one prepared for The National Academy Press. She was a founding member of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, an influential organization within the American Economics Association. She served as President of the Southwestern Social Sciences Association, 1978-79. An active and respected member of the Dallas community, Barbara was a member of the Dallas Economists Club and Town and Gown since 1975. She was a Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank, Region IX, 1981-85. She served on the Board of Directors of American Savings Bank 1990-97. She was also on the Board of Directors of The Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation from 1991-97, serving as Chair 1994-95. Barbara was very active in the women’s rights movement, serving as Founder and Board Member of Women for Change, Dallas, and the Women’s Center of Dallas Advisory Board, where she was President in both 1981 and 1994. Barbara received numerous awards, including the M Award for Service to SMU in 1972, Outstanding Teacher SMU 1972, and the Willis M. Tate for Outstanding Faculty Member 1982. She received the Dallas Outstanding Women-Helping-Women Award in 1980, and the American Association of University Women Laurel Award 1983. She is listed in Who’s Who in Economics, American Men and Women of Science, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in American Education, Outstanding Educators in America, and Who’s Who in America. Barbara is a third-generation member of PEO active since 1941. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution as a descendant of Isaac Parker. Barbara is survived by her husband Sydney C. Reagan of Dallas, her son Sydney, daughter Patricia, and four grandchildren. Services with no viewing will be held at 11:00 A.M. Tuesday, December17, 2002 at Northhaven Methodist Church in Dallas. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Northhaven United Methodist Church, 11211 Preston Road, Dallas, Texas 75230. These funds will be used in Barbara’s name to promote education among women….
Source: Dallas Morning News, December 14, 2002.
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Selected papers
Reagan, Barbara B., and Betty J. Maynard. “Sex Discrimination in Universities: An Approach through Internal Labor Market Analysis.” AAUP Bulletin 60, no. 1 (1974): 13-21.
Reagan, Barbara B. “Two Supply Curves for Economists? Implications of Mobility and Career Attachment of Women.” The American Economic Review 65, no. 2 (1975): 100-07.
Martha Blaxall; Barbara Benton Reagan (1976). Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segregation. University of Chicago Press.
Blaxall, Martha, and Barbara B. Reagan. “Preface.” Signs 1, no. 3 (1976): Viii-Ix.
Reagan, Barbara B., and Martha Blaxall. “Introduction: Occupational Segregation in International Women’s Year.” Signs 1, no. 3 (1976): 1-5.
Strober, Myra H., and Barbara B. Reagan. “Sex Differences in Economists’ Fields of Specialization.” Signs 1, no. 3 (1976): 303-17.
Reagan, Barbara B. “Stocks and Flows of Academic Economists.” The American Economic Review 69, no. 2 (1979): 143-47.
Image Source: Southern Methodist University yearbook, The Rotunda 1976, p. 80.