author

William Amasa Scott

1862–1944

An early American economist and teacher, he wrote clearly about banking, money, and the history of economic thought at a time when those subjects were rapidly changing. His books helped bring big financial ideas to students and general readers alike.

1 Audiobook

Banking

Banking

by William Amasa Scott

About the author

Born in 1862 and died in 1944, William Amasa Scott was an American economist best known for writing on banking, money, and economic history. Sources connected with the Wisconsin Historical Society identify him as a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin, and records of his publications show a long career devoted to explaining how financial systems worked.

Scott wrote several substantial books, including The Repudiation of State Debts (1893), Banking (1914), Money and Banking (1926), and The Development of Economics (1926–1927). Taken together, these works show both sides of his interests: the practical world of banks and currency, and the longer story of how economic ideas developed over time.

Today, he is remembered less as a public celebrity than as a serious scholar who aimed to make complicated subjects understandable. For listeners interested in classic writing on finance and economics, his work offers a window into how economists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries thought about money, credit, and the modern economy.