David Ames Wells

David Ames Wells (June 17, 1828 – November 5, 1898) was an American engineer, textbook author, economist and advocate of low tariffs.

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Williams College in 1847. In 1848 he joined the staff of the Springfield Republican newspaper, where he invented a device to fold papers. He graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1851, where he worked with Louis Agassiz. Also in 1851, he was appointed assistant professor at the Lawrence Scientific School, and was lecturer on chemistry and physics at Groton Academy. He edited The Annual of Scientific Discovery from 1850 to 1866. He invented devices for textile mills, and wrote The Science of Common Things (1857) and Wells's Principles and Applications of Chemistry (1858); Wells's First Principles of Geology (1861) and Wells's Natural Philosophy (1863), which went through fifteen editions as a college textbook.

He was a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, writing pamphlets that reassured investors of the soundness of Lincoln's financial policies. He first attained reputation as a political economist by an address on “Our Burden and Our Strength,” read before a literary society of Troy in 1864. It discussed the resources of the United States in regard to the nation's debt-paying ability, and attracted the attention of President Lincoln, who appointed him in 1865 chairman of a three-member National Revenue Commission. In this capacity Wells was the first to collect economic and financial statistics for government use. Recent Economic Changes (1889), a major description and analysis of the national economy; Breakers Ahead: Cause of the Present Crisis (1896); and The Theory and Practice of Taxation (1900).

Recent Economic Changes Recent Economic Changes and Their Effect on the Production and Distribution of Wealth and Well-Being of Society (1891) is a frequently cited reference for U.S. economic history of the late 19th century and is available in modern reprints. It is an account of the dramatic changes in the world economy transitioning into the Second Industrial Revolution in which Wells documented many of the changes in trade, such as triple expansion steam shipping, railroads, the effect of the international telegraph network and the opening of the Suez Canal. Wells also discussed the Long Depression and many causes of the great advances in productivity of the preceding 20 years. Wells noted that many of the government inquires on the “depression of prices” (deflation) found various reasons such as the scarcity of gold and silver. Wells showed that the U.S. money supply, especially the amount of gold and silver, actually rose significantly during the deflation. Wells pointed out that deflation only lowered the cost of goods that benefited from improved methods of manufacturing and transportation. Goods produced by craftsmen did not decrease in value, nor did many services, and the cost of labor actually increased. Also, deflation did not occur in countries that did not have modern manufacturing, transportation and communications.

Recent Economic Changes gives support to those who argue that economic growth in the late 19th century is significantly underestimated.