You are about to encounter a Harvard Ph.D. economist, vintage 1932, who illustrates just how deep the roots of American right-wing economics can be traced.
A disciple of Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver, Vervon Orval Watts evolved from his checkered pre- and post-Harvard Ph.D. (1932) academic career to become an apostle of laissez-faire, anti-Keynesianism, anti-globalism, and anti-communism — first as chief economist of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and later as an editor/economist with the Foundation for Economic Education. In 1963 he became a leading figure at the young conservative business college, the Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) in Michigan, where he headed the Division of Social Studies over the next two decades.
Watts was hired by Leonard Read [greatest hit “I, Pencil”] in 1939 to become the chief economist for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, where Leonard Read was executive director. Read later made Watts the leading economist at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). From Watts’ papers at the Hoover Institution Archives, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror was able to provide some of the back-story to the publication of the FEE publication “Roofs or Ceilings?, a famous Friedman-Stigler anti-rent-control pamphlet from 1946.
The Foundation for Economic Education posted a previously unpublished interview with Watts that took place in the mid-1970s. Here is a link to an archived copy.
Birth/Death Dates for Vervon Orval Watts:
Born: March 25, 1898 in Walkerton, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada
Died: March 30, 1993 in Palm Springs, California.
Fun Facts: Northwood University is home to the DeVos Graduate School of Management. The DeVos family (Amway) was married into by Elisabeth (Betsy) Dee Prince who is currently serving as the United States Secretary of Education. Her brother Erik Prince is the founder of Blackwater USA.
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From Harvard University sources
1926-27. Vervon Orval Watts was the Christopher M. Weld Scholar in Economics. Fifth-Year Graduate Student. Instructor in Economics and Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.
Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1926-1927, p. 111.
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Ph.D. awarded in 1932
Vervon Orval Watts, A.B. (Univ. of Manitoba) 1918, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1923.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Sociology. Thesis, “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought.”
Associate Professor of Economics, Antioch College.
Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p.124.
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Vervon Orval Watts
(1898-1993)
c.v.
Taught in Gilbert Plains High School in Ontario, Canada.
1923-26. Instructor in Sociology, Clark University.
1927-29. Instructor Harvard University.
1930. Visiting lecturer, Wellesley College.
1930-36. Associate professor of economics, Antioch College.
1936-39. Associate professor of economics, Carleton College.
1939-46. Economic counsel, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
1946-49. Editorial director and economist, The Foundation for Economic Education.
1949-51. Visiting professor of economics, Claremont Men’s College.
1949-64. Economic counsel, Southern California Edison Company.
1951-57. Columnist, Christian Economics.
1961-63. Visiting professor of economics, Pepperdine College.
In the mid-1960s Watts was the Dean of the short-lived Freedom School Phrontistery in Colorado, the brainchild of Robert LeFevre that was to become a libertarian version of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
1963–84. Professor of economics and chairman of the Division of Social Studies, Northwood, Institute.
1975-76. First Lundy Professor of the Philosophy of Business at Campbell University, N.C. [on leave of absence from Northwood Institute].
Producer and moderator of radio and television forum programs.
Regular contributor to The Freeman and The National Review.
Books:
Why Are We So Prosperous.[1938]
Do We Want Free Enterprise? [1944]
Away from Freedom, the Revolt of the College Economists. [1952]
Union Monopoly: Cause and Cure. [1954]
The United Nations: Planned Tyranny.[1955]
Politics vs. Prosperity. [author and editor, 1976]
Sources: V. Orval Watts (Co-Author and Editor). Free Markets or Famine.[link to 1975 second edition] Midland, Michigan: Ford Press, 1967, p. 578. Copy in the Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts. Box 17. Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, 1 April 1993.
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Obituary by a comrade-in-arms
Murray N. Rothbard, “V. Orval Watts: 1898-1993” reprinted in Making Economic Sense (2nded., 2006), pp. 450-452.
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Vervon Orval Watts (1898-1993)
Selected Awards
1918. Gold Medalist in political economy, University of Manitoba.
1967. Liberty Award, Congress of Freedom, Birmingham, Alabama.
1967. Honor Certificate Award, Freedom Foundation, Valley Forge.
Source: Southwest Dallas County Suburban (Jan. 21, 1971) p. 9.
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Obituary
V. Orval Watts; Chamber of Commerce Economist
by Myrna Oliver
Los Angeles Times, April 01, 1993
V. Orval Watts, the first full-time economist employed by a chamber of commerce in the United States, has died in Palm Springs at the age of 95.
Watts, who died Tuesday, was named in 1939 as economic counsel for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, which at the time was the largest organization of its kind in the world. He continued in the position until 1946, when he became editorial director for the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Before the United States was thrust into World War II, Watts advised businessmen convening in Los Angeles that “Europe’s war” should teach Americans four things–to avoid war, to avoid monopolies and price-fixing, to avoid restrictions on trade and output designed to make work or maintain prices, and to remember that credit is sound only when based on production.
Once the United States was in the war, Watts repeatedly cautioned that wartime inflation created only the illusion of prosperity rather than actual prosperity.
Vervon Orval Willard Watts was born March 25, 1898, in Manitoba [sic, Ontario], Canada, and earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Manitoba in 1918. He later earned master’s and doctoral degrees in economics at Harvard University.
He taught for more than six decades–at Gilbert Plains High School in Ontario, Canada; Clark University; Harvard; Wellesley; Antioch College; Carlton College; Claremont Men’s College; Pepperdine University, and Campbell College. He was professor emeritus of Northwood University, where he served as director of economic education and chairman of the Division of Social Studies from 1963 to 1984.
Watts also served during the 1950s as economic counsel for Southern California Edison, Pacific Mutual and other companies in Los Angeles. He contributed regularly to publications such as “Christian Economics,” “The Freeman” and “National Review.”
His books included “Why Are We So Prosperous?” in 1938, “Do We Want Free Enterprise?” in 1944, “Away from Freedom” in 1952, “Union Monopoly” in 1954, “United Nations: Planned Tyranny” in 1955, “Free Markets or Famine” in 1967 and “Politics vs. Prosperity” in 1976.
Watts is survived by his wife, Carolyn Magill Watts; a son, Thomas; daughters Joan Carter, Carol Higdon and Louise Crandall; nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren…
Source: Los Angeles Times. April 1, 1993.
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Brief, Official History of Northwood University
On March 23, 1959, two young men with an idea, a goal, and a pragmatic philosophy to encompass it all, broke away from their careers in a traditional college structure to create a new concept in education.
Their visionary idea became a reality when Dr. Arthur E. Turner and Dr. R. Gary Stauffer enrolled 100 students at Northwood Institute. They used a 19th-century mansion in Alma, Michigan, as a school building, a small amount of borrowed money for operating expenses and a large amount of determination.
Northwood was created as the world was changing. The Russians had launched Sputnik and America was soon to follow. Stauffer and Turner watched the race to space. They envisioned a new type of university – one where the teaching of management led the way. While the frontiers of space were revealing their mysteries, Stauffer and Turner understood all endeavors – technical, manufacturing, marketing, retail, every type of business – needed state-of-the-art, ethics-driven management.
Time has validated the success of what these two young educators called “The Northwood Idea” – incorporating the lessons of the American free-enterprise society into the college classroom.
Dr. David E. Fry took the helm in 1982 and then Dr. Keith A. Pretty in 2006, each continuing the same ideals as Stauffer and Turner, never wavering from the core values. The University grew and matured. Academic curricula expanded; Northwood went from being an Institute to an accredited University, the DeVos Graduate School of Management was created and then expanded; the Adult Degree Program and its program centers expanded to over 20 locations in eight states; international program centers were formed in Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland; and significant construction like the campus Student Life Centers added value to the Northwood students’ experience. New endeavors such as Aftermarket Studies, entertainment and sports management and fashion merchandising, along with a campus partnership in Montreux, Switzerland, demonstrate an enriched experience for all our students.
With a clearly articulated mission to develop the future leaders of a global, free-enterprise society, Northwood University is expanding its presence in national and international venues. Professors are engaged in economic and policy dialogue; students are emerging as champions in regional and national academic competitions. At all campuses and in all divisions, Northwood University is energized and is actively pursuing dynamic programming and increased influence.
Northwood University educates managers and entrepreneurs – highly skilled and ethical leaders. With more than 57,000 alumni and a vibrant future ahead, The Northwood Idea is alive and well.
Source: Northwood University website.
Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1932.