Richard T. Ely  Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement who called for more government intervention in order to reform what they perceived as the injustices of capitalism, especially regarding factory conditions, compulsory education, child labor, and labor unions. Ely is best remembered as a founder and the first Secretary of the American Economic Association, as a founder and secretary of the Christian Social Union, and as the author of a series of widely read books on the organized labor movement, socialism, and other social questions. Richard Theodore Ely was born on April 13, 1854, in Ripley, New York, the eldest of three children of Ezra Sterling and Harriet Gardner (Mason) Ely. Soon after Ely's birth, his father moved the family to a 90-acre farm near Fredonia, New York, where Ely would spend the next 16 years. The elder Ely was a self-taught engineer and lacked the skills and knowledge to farm successfully, relying too heavily on popular, sometimes erroneous, information he obtained from farm magazines. Although harsh weather and fluctuating market prices provided further hardship to the family, Ely credited his early farm life with instilling in him many valuable qualities. From a young age he had numerous responsibilities in maintaining the farm, including carrying wood, churning butter, picking up rocks out of the fields, and milking the cows. His parents were Presbyterian but Ely transferred his affiliation to the Episcopal Church when in college. Ely attended Columbia University in New York City, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1876 and a master's degree in 1879. He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics from the University of Heidelberg in that same year, where he had studied with Karl Knies, who belonged to the historical school of economics, and Johann Kaspar Bluntschli. He later received a Doctorate of Laws from Hobart College, receiving the degree in 1892. Ely was a professor and head of the Department of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from 1881 to 1892. In 1885, Ely was a founder of the American Economic Association, serving until 1892 as the group's Secretary. He later served a term as President of the organization, holding that position from 1899 to 1901. The AEA Distinguished Lecture series was formerly known as the Richard T. Ely Lecture; it was re-named in 2020. Ely also founded Lambda Alpha International in 1930.