author

William Zebina Ripley

1867–1941

An influential economist and teacher, he moved between Columbia, MIT, and Harvard and became especially known for his work on railroads and corporate reform. He is also remembered for an 1899 book on race that shaped debate in its time and is now read as part of the history of racial anthropology.

1 Audiobook

Railroads: Rates and Regulations

Railroads: Rates and Regulations

by William Zebina Ripley

About the author

William Zebina Ripley was an American economist and anthropologist born on October 13, 1867, and he died on August 16, 1941. He taught at Columbia University, MIT, and Harvard, building a reputation as a clear, energetic academic voice on economics and public policy.

His work ranged widely, but railroads and business regulation became central parts of his public career. He was known as an authority on railroad questions and wrote often about corporate practices, helping connect university economics with real-world debates about how large companies should be governed.

Ripley is also closely associated with The Races of Europe (1899), a book that classified Europeans into racial types. It was influential in its day, but its racial framework is now outdated and tied to ideas that later fed harmful pseudoscientific thinking. That mixed legacy makes him a notable figure both in the history of economics and in the history of social science's mistakes.