Jesse W. Markham

Jesse William Markham (April 16, 1916 – June 21, 2009) was an American economist. Markham was best known for his work on antitrust policy, price theory and industrial organization. Markham was the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS), and the former chief economist to the Federal Trade Commission.

Early life and education Markham was born in Sharps, Virginia. Markham attended the University of Richmond, where he played baseball. In 1941, he earned an undergraduate degree in economics and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

After the War, Markham began studies at Harvard University, and earned a master's degree in 1947 and a Ph.D. in 1949 in economics. Markham criticized the FTC for relying on oversimplified rules of thumb, instead of the tedious analysis Congress seemed to have in mind as one of the agency's principal functions.

In 2003, Markham returned to the FTC to comment on economists' role in antitrust during the 1950s and 1960s.

Professor of economics From 1955 until 1968, Markham was Professor of Economics at Princeton University, but visited as a professor in the Harvard economics department and at the Harvard Business School.

In 1968, Markham accepted George P. Baker's invitation to serve as Harvard Business School's Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration.

Markham retired from HBS in 1982, but continued to teach at the Harvard Extension School and at Emory University at the Carter Center. In 1989, he served as a People to People Diplomacy Mission Delegate to the USSR.

Personal life Markham was a part-time resident of Longboat Key, Florida. Markham married Penelope Anton in 1944, and they had three children: Elizabeth (Betsy) McLean, John James Emanuel, II, and Jesse William Jr.