Walter W. Stewart

Walter W. Stewart (1885 — 1958) was an American economist and banking expert. He was an economics advisor to four presidents, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt and Eisenhower.

Education and career Stewart graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Missouri in 1909. He joined the faculty of the School of Economics and Politics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) on September 1, 1938, and remained there until his death in 1958.

During World War I, Stewart was a staff member in the planning and statistics division of the War Industries Board. In 1922, he joined the Federal Reserve Board as Director of Research where he served as a mentor to Emanuel Goldenweiser and built a bridge between the statistics division and central bank policy.

He was an economic advisor to the Bank of England from 1928 to 1930, the first American to serve in that capacity.

During World War II members of the IAS School of Economics and Politics did important war work. In 1944 Stewart along with IAS colleague Robert B. Warren worked for the Treasury Department in Washington, advising them on the relation between fiscal operations and the banking system. He served on President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Council of Economic Advisers from 1953 to 1955. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1943.