Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American
economist, author, and leader of the
Progressive movement who called for more
government intervention in order to reform what they perceived as the injustices of
capitalism, especially regarding factory conditions, compulsory education,
child labor, and
labor unions. Ely is best remembered as a founder and the first Secretary of the
American Economic Association, as a founder and secretary of the Christian Social Union, and as the author of a series of widely read books on the
organized labor movement,
socialism, and other social questions.