Bassie, V. Lewis

YEARS IN THE DEPARTMENT:

1948-1976

RESEARCH INTEREST:

Business Cycles, Economic Policy

BIOSKETCH:

V. Lewis Bassie received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, and additionally earned his PhD there in 1931. After continuing his studies and research at Chicago’s School of Business, Bassie began a career in government. He served as the coordinator of Statistical Projects for the State of Illinois from 1935 to 1937, and then moved to Washington, D.C. to join the Federal Research Board as a senior economist.

During World War II, Bassie was the chief of the Civilian Requirements Division for the National Defense Advisory Commission, and later served as the chief production analyst for the War Production Board. After the war, he worked as an advisor to the Foreign Economic Administration and in 1945 joined the Department of Commerce as an assistant to Secretary W. Avereil Harriman.

Bassie joined the University of Illinois faculty in 1948. During his time at the University, he wrote articles for the Illinois Business Review and was the author of the textbook “Economic Forecasting,” various studies on national accounting and economic forecasting for the National Bureau of Economic Research, as well as numerous other articles in professional publications. He penned the reference on economic forecasting for the Encyclopedia Britannica and authored the entry for government subsidies for the New Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.

Professor Bassie would retire in 1976 to become a Professor Emeritus of Economics. He continued to live in Champaign for nearly 20 years with his wife before dying on June 5, 1997 at the age of 89.

PHD:

University of Chicago, 1931

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Bassie, V L. Economic Forecasting. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958. Print.
Afifi, Hamdy H. H, and V L. Bassie. Water Pricing Theory and Practice in Illinois. Urbana: Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Illinois, 1969. Print.
Bassie, V L. Uncertainty in Forecasting and Policy Formation. Austin: Bureau of Business Research. University of Texas, 1959. Print.
Bassie, V L. Recession Out of Control. Urbana: College of Commerce and Business Administration, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1981. Internet resource.
Bassie, V L. The Coming Death of the Mixed Economy. Urbana, Ill.: College of Commerce and Business Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980. Internet resource.

VITA:

Not available