Lloyd Mints


Lloyd Wynn Mints was an American economist, notable for his contributions to the quantity theory of money.

Biography

Born in South Dakota, Lloyd Mints moved with his family in 1888 to Missouri and then in 1901 to Boulder, Colorado. He received from the University of Colorado his bachelor's degree in 1914 and master's degree in 1915. He was a secondary school teacher in Cripple Creek, Colorado from 1915–1917 and then moved to Washington, D.C. as an analyst in a federal office. In 1918 he was transferred to Chicago. In 1919 Mints enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, where he was assigned to teach undergraduate courses. He completed several graduate courses in economics and was promoted to assistant professor of political economy in 1923. He taught introductory economics courses until 1928 when he was put in charge of teaching money and banking courses. He retired as professor emeritus in 1953.
Mints was an advocate of the view that the Federal Reserve System should have increased the quantity of money during the years from 1929 to 1933. Mints was also a main critic of the real bills doctrine in the 20th century.
Mints had a strong influence on development of Chicago monetary economics, in particular on Milton Friedman's thinking.

Selected publications

Articles