Overview
Francis Amasa Walker (1840-1897) was an American economist and educator, as well as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He graduated from Amherst College in 1860, where he studied law. During the Civil War, he rose from the rank of sergeantmajor to that of brevet brigadier general of volunteers. He was particularly adept at analyzing enemy troop strength and their position. Walker's activities after the war included stints as editor of the Springfield (MA) Republican, chief of the government bureau of statistics, and as U. S. commissioner of Indian Affairs (1871-72). From 1872 to 1880 he was professor of political economy at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale; from 1885- 92 he served as president of the American Economic Association; and from 1881 to his death he was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an economist, Walker is especially known for his theories on wages and profits. His works included: The Indian Question (1874), The Wages Question (1876), Money (1878), Political Economy (1883), Land and Its Rent (1883) and Life of General Hancock (1894).