Harbeson, Robert W.

YEARS IN THE DEPARTMENT:

1947-1971

RESEARCH INTEREST:

Public Utilities, Transportation

BIOSKETCH:

Robert Willis Harbeson was born in 1903 in Mansfield, Ohio, and earned his undergraduate degree with honors from Western Reserve University. He subsequently completed his master’s and doctoral degrees at Harvard University, where he was a Henry Lee fellow. Harbeson then worked as an economics professor, first at what is now the University of Northern Iowa and then at Rutgers University.

Harbeson began working with the federal government during the Second World War, serving as chief of the Transportation Priorities Section of the War Food Administration. He later became a Principal Economist for the Bureau of Economics of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

After the war, Harbeson resumed his academic career, and joined the University of Illinois in 1947. During his academic career, Harbeson wrote more than 70 articles about the economics of transportation and utilities in journals and books. He was awarded the Aitchison Prize by the Interstate Commerce Commission for one of these articles, and additionally received the Distinguished Service Award from the Transportation and Public Utilities section of the American Economic Association.

In addition, the University itself recognized Dr. Harbeson for his achievements by naming him the McKinley Professor of Economics and Public Utilities following Professor Locklin’s retirement in 1965, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1971. Dr. Harbeson was deceased on March 5, 1992, at 88 years old.

PHD:

Harvard University

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Harbeson, Robert W. Social Welfare and Economic Efficiency in Transport Policy. Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin, 1970. Print.
Harbeson, Robert W. "The Clayton Act: Sleeping Giant of Antitrust?" Antitrust and Regulation / Edited by Giles H. Burgess Jr. (1992). Print.
Harbeson, Robert W. A New Phase of the Antitrust Law. Michigan: publisher not identified, 1947. Print.
Harbeson, Robert W. Some Allocational Problems in Highway Finance. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963. Print.
Harbeson, Robert W. "Railroads and Regulation, 1877-1916, Conspiracy or Public Interest?" Growth of the Regulatory State, 1900-1917 : State and Federal Regulation of Railroad and Other Enterprises / Edited with Introductions by Robert F. Himmelberg. (1994). Print.

VITA: