Obituaries : Lorie Tarshis; Stanford Professor Advocated Keynesian Economics

Lorie Tarshis, 82, economist who wrote the first U.S. college textbook on Keynesian economics. Tarshis taught economics at Stanford University from 1946 to 1971 and became controversial with conservative alumni after publishing his “The Elements of Economics” in 1947. A native of Toronto, Tarshis encountered British economist John Maynard Keynes at the University of Toronto and continued studying under him at Cambridge University. Tarshis became an apostle of Keynesian economics, which espouse deficit spending and government stimulation of spending and investment through adjustment of interest and tax rates to produce full employment and a stable economy. After teaching at Tufts, Tarshis became a U.S. citizen so that he could join the Air Force during World War II. After retiring from Stanford, he returned to Toronto to teach at the University of Toronto, York College and Glendon College. On Oct. 4 in Toronto of Parkinson’s disease.