Richard T. Ely had a major influence on the field and profession of economics. He approached economics from different perspective than mainstream economics. His focus was on socio-economic problems. Economics came in as it was needed to grasp the sources and solutions to those problems.

Ely was born in Connecticut in 1854. He received his undergraduate training at Columbia University in philosophy. At that time Germans were developing a field of social analysis that emphasized the whole of society and its history. Ely decided to learn of this German Historical School first hand. He traveled to the University of Heidelberg to pursue a Ph.D. After he completed his Ph.D. in 1879 he returned to the U.S. and taught economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland for about nine years.

At Johns Hopkins his interest in the labor movement and its history caused concern. He decided to leave and the University of Wisconsin hired him to be chairman of its economics department.

It was a good appointment for Ely and for the University. There was great interest in Wisconsin at the time in having academics formulate economic policy for the state government. This movement, which was later known as the Progressive Movement, reached its peak under the influence of Robert M. La Follette as governor and later U.S. senator for Wiscon. Ely taught at the University of Wisconsin from 1892 to 1925. His active interests in economics were labor and agriculture.

He was quite active professionally as an economist and founded the American Econommics Association. He also founded organizations for the development of legislation in economic policy for labor and agriculture. He published an introductory textbook in economics entitled, Introduction to Political Economy. He left the University of Wisconsin at about age 71, but lived until 1943, dying at age 88.