Charles Cobb (economist)

Charles Wiggins Cobb (1875–1949) was an American mathematician and economist and a 1912 Ph.D. graduate of the University of Michigan. He published many works on both subjects, however he is most famous for developing the Cobb–Douglas production function in economics. He worked on this project with the economist Paul H. Douglas while lecturing at Amherst College in Massachusetts.[1] In 1928, Charles Cobb and Paul Douglas published a study in which they modeled the growth of the American economy during the period 1899–1922. They considered a simplified view of the economy in which production of output is determined by the amount of labor involved and the amount of capital used. While there are many other factors affecting economic performance, their model proved to be remarkably accurate. He also authored a number of books and pamphlets in his time including, 'The asymptotic development for a certain integral function of zero order,' in 1913, while working to attain his doctorate in Mathematics.[2]

Charles Cobb
Born(1875-09-17)September 17, 1875
Plymouth, Massachusetts
DiedMarch 2, 1949(1949-03-02) (aged 73)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Known forCobb–Douglas function
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Economics
InstitutionsAmherst College
Doctoral advisorWalter Burton Ford

Notes and references
  1. R. C. S. Trahair, From Aristotelian to Reaganomics: a dictionary of eponyms with biographies in the social sciences, p. 133
  2. The asymptotic development for a certain integral function of zero order by Charles W. Cobb (1913)


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