Mary Bowman

Mary Jean Bowman (October 17, 1908 – June 4, 2002) was an American economist who mostly focused on education economics.

Personal life and education Mary Jean Bowman was born to mother Mary K. Kauffman and father Harold Martin Bowman on October 17, 1908, in New York City. She was raised in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College in 1930. She received her Master of Arts degree from Radcliffe College two years later and her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1938. She relocated to Chicago, Illinois with her husband, C. Arnold Anderson, in 1949. The two were married on July 18, 1942, in Iowa City, Iowa. Together they had one child, Lloyd Barr. Dr. Bowman died at home in Hyde Park on June 4, 2002.

Career

In the 1930s, Dr. Bowman was doing research and casework at the Massachusetts Women's State Prison. She served as a visiting professor in Yugoslavia, Brazil, Sweden, the London School of Economics and with the World Bank.

Mary Jean Bowman was the only female member of the social science research council, and she served at the national level for the American Association of University Women in 1953.

Published work Mary Jean Bowman wrote six books and over seventy-five articles. She was known for her work in the economics of education. In the 1940s and 1950s, the textbook that she co-authored with George Leland Bach, called Economic Analysis and Public Policy, became the most popularly used college-level economic textbook. She researched and published articles on domestic and international economic issues, and worked with her husband to publish work as well.