Eli Ginzberg, 91; Economist Advised Eight Presidents

Eli Ginzberg, 91, a longtime Columbia University economist who wrote extensively about labor and health care and advised eight U.S. presidents, died Thursday at his home in New York City. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Ginzberg grew up a few blocks from Columbia, where he taught for more than 60 years.

The son of an eminent Talmudic scholar, he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1931 and his doctorate in economics in 1934, both from Columbia. He joined the Columbia faculty in 1935.

In 1939, after spending a year touring 40 states, he published “The Illusion of Economic Stability,” a series of recommendations on reforming the regulatory and monetary systems.

In 1950, he co-wrote a major study for the Conservation of Human Resources Project at Columbia’s Graduate School of Business that called for the expansion of the federal role in education.

With his Columbia colleagues, he later wrote a three-volume study on the problems of the segregated Army called “The Ineffective Soldier: Lessons for Management and the Nation.”

In 1974, he helped launch the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., a nonprofit that assesses domestic social programs such as welfare.

In later years, Ginzberg focused on health-care issues such as the possible oversupply of doctors and the causes of runaway medical costs.