Sidney L. Jones

Sidney Lewis Jones (born September 23, 1933) is an American economist and former official in the United States federal government. Educated at Utah State University and Stanford University, he initially taught in universities until he was recruited to join the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers. From there he held a number of positions in and out of government, including senior roles in the Departments of Commerce and the Treasury. A Republican, he has held strong views during his career about controlling inflation and federal government spending but was nonetheless well regarded as an economist across the political spectrum.

Sidney L. Jones
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy
In office
October 31, 1989 – January 11, 1993[1]
PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byMichael R. Darby[1]
Succeeded byAlicia Munnell[1]
Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
In office
October 3, 1983[2] – November 1985[3]
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byRobert G. Dederick[2]
Succeeded byRobert T. Ortner[4][5]
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy
In office
July 17, 1975 – January 20, 1977[1]
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byEdgar Fiedler[1]
Succeeded byDaniel H. Brill[1]
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
In office
June 1973 – July 1974
PresidentRichard Nixon
Personal details
Born (1933-09-23) September 23, 1933
Ogden, Utah, United States
Political partyRepublican
Alma materUtah State University
Stanford University
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1954–1956
RankFirst Lieutenant

Personal life

Sidney Lewis Jones was born September 23, 1933, in Ogden, Utah. He is of Welsh descent. He spent a significant portion of his childhood in California, where his father earned a doctorate in bacteriology at Stanford University.[2] In 1953 he married Marlene Stewart.[6] They had five children.[7]

He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He has played several leadership roles in the church: he was a bishop as of 1984[2] and a member of the presidency of the Washington D.C. Temple as of 2006.[8]

Education and military career

In 1954 Jones earned a B.S. in economics from Utah State University.[6] He was valedictorian, a Distinguished Military Student, and a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Kappa Psi. He played varsity tennis,[3] a hobby he maintained during his career as an economist.[2] From August 1954 to September 1956 he served in the United States Army, first at Fort Lee in Virginia and then at the Sierra Army Depot in California. He left the Army as a First Lieutenant.[3]

In 1956 Jones entered Stanford,[9] where he earned an M.B.A. in 1958 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1960.[6]

Economics career

From 1960 to 1969 Jones taught finance, first at Northwestern University and then at the University of Michigan.[9] In 1968 he was promoted to full professor,[10] becoming at 33 the youngest full professor in the history of the University of Michigan.[2]

In 1969 Paul W. McCracken, chairman of President Richard Nixon's Council of Economic Advisers and a former colleague at the University of Michigan, recruited Jones as an aide to the Council. For the next 24 years he moved in and out of government, serving a number of senior economic policy roles and taking research and teaching appointments in between these stints. Most notably, he was Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in the Nixon administration; Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in the Reagan administration; and twice Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, in the Ford and George H. W. Bush administrations.[9]

In a 1984 interview he described himself as more a teacher of economics than an original researcher. He also said his time in government made him a more knowledgeable teacher.[2]

List of positions

This list is drawn from biographical information on Jones from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum[9] and the record of the Senate confirmation hearing for his second term as Assistant Treasury Secretary. Throughout his career he also had occasional, brief visiting appointments at schools including Dartmouth College, Rice University,[3] Carleton College, and Cornell University.[9]

For a time after his appointment as Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs he was a senior adviser to the Government Research Corporation.[11]

Policy views

Jones is a Republican.[11] He has described himself as an "eclectic monetarist."[2] In 1977 he identified inflation as the primary threat to prosperity and argued against the existence of a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.[12] In 1984 as Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs he favored lower federal spending, a consumption tax, reducing income tax exemptions rather than increasing marginal income tax rates, and combating inflation.[2]

In 1983, two of Ronald Reagan's most senior aides disagreed over how to reduce the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 1985. Council of Economic Advisers chairman Martin Feldstein wanted to raise taxes, while Treasury Secretary Donald Regan wanted to reduce spending. Jones sided with Regan, and in the end so did Reagan.[2]

Republican and Democratic economists praised Jones's work as an economist and described him as within the mainstream of contemporary economic thought.[2] Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 election, so in early 1977 Jones was preparing to leave government. He praised Carter's choices for economic advisers, including Charles Schultze, W. Michael Blumenthal, and Bert Lance, despite disagreeing with many of their policy views.[12] During the 1989 Senate confirmation hearing for Jones's second tenure as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, he won praise from Republican Senators John Chafee and Bob Packwood as well as Democratic Senators Lloyd Bentsen and David Pryor.[3]

References
  1. United States Department of the Treasury. "History of the Office of Economic Policy" (PDF). Retrieved Sep 24, 2014.
  2. Farnsworth, Clyde H. (Jan 29, 1984). "Commerce's new economist: Sidney Jones; the man behind all those numbers". The New York Times. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  3. "Hearing before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, First Session, on the nomination of Sidney Lewis Jones to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy". United States Senate Committee on Finance. Oct 16, 1989. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  4. "Nomination of Robert Ortner To be an Under Secretary of Commerce". The American Presidency Project. Mar 7, 1986. Retrieved Sep 24, 2014.
  5. Nash, Nathaniel C. (Aug 2, 1986). "Leading indicators rise 0.3%". The New York Times.
  6. "Sidney L. Jones". Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  7. "Nomination of Sidney L. Jones to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury". The American Presidency Project. Aug 4, 1989. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  8. Smith, Meredith M. (May 6, 2006). "Supreme court justices honor administrator". LDS Church News. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  9. "Sidney L. Jones Papers". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved Sep 23, 2014.
  10. Jones, Sidney L. (2008). Greenspan Council. University Press of America. p. 202.
  11. Barnum, Alexander (Nov 11, 1985). "Newsmakers". Washington Post. p. 14.
  12. Roderick, Lee (Jan 12, 1977). "Utah-born economist for Ford praises Pres.-elect to face". The Daily Herald.
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