Isaac M. Rubinow

Who was Isaac M. Rubinow?

Isaac Max Rubinow was a leading theorist on social insurance and one of the most influential writers on the subject. Rubinow was an MD, and held a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. His 1913 book, Social Insurance, was the most influential early work on social security. His work impacted a generation of social reformers, including President Theodore Roosevelt, who used Rubinow's work in drafting the Progressive Party platform in 1912. The Progressive Party was the first of its kind to call for social insurance.

Rubinow was a Russian Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1893, at the age of 18. Attending Columbia University and New York University Medical School, he trained as a medical doctor. He grew so upset with the misery of his patients that he decided he could do more good for the common man by helping to alleviate their economic woes than he could as a physician.

Employed as an economic expert in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Statistics, Division of Foreign Markets, Rubinow wrote several extensive analyses of the development of the Russian wheat market and the impact of growing Russian wheat exports on U.S. and world markets.

Employed as an actuary, Rubinow was central to the formation of the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America in 1914, which is known today as the Casualty Actuarial Society. Rubinow was elected its first president.