Richard T. Ely, the founder of the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities (IRLE), defined land economics as “that division of economics, theoretical and applied, which is concerned with the land as an economic concept and with the economic relations which grow out of land as property.” It deals with a broad range of topics including urban and rural tenancy, land value, public and private ownership, conservation of natural resources, and public control over private land utilization. Ely was in large measure responsible for popularizing land economics as a field of study. His interest began at least by the 1890s and was heightened during the First World War when he helped found the American Association for Agricultural Legislation. With the formation of the Institute for Research in Land Economics, land economics became his major research and teaching interest.
The IRLE officially came into being in October, 1920 when the University of Wisconsin allotted Ely 1,000.00 dollars to establish a division of land economics. The Institute was intended to perform basic research in the field and thus aid legislators, courts, administrative officials, and others in forming constructive land policies. The IRLE also undertook research in public utilities and in 1923 changed its name to the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities. To disseminate the product of its research the Institute sponsored a number of monographs and texts and, beginning in 1925, published the Journal of Land Economics and Public Utilities.
Funding for the IRLE came primarily from railroads, interest groups such as the National Electric Light Association, and from the Carnegie Corporation. In 1925 the Institute shifted its affiliation and headquarters to Northwestern University ostensibly to improve its sources of funding. At its height the Institute employed as many as forty people. Among the well known economists who worked for the IRLE were Edward W. Morehouse, A. J. Altmeyer, Martin Glaeser, George S. Wehrwein, Mary L. Shine, and Herbert D. Simpson. Due in part to its funding sources the Institute's objectivity was sometimes questioned. By the early 1930s the resulting bad publicity coupled with the beginning of the depression necessitated a drastic curtailment of IRLE activity. In 1932 Ely, then 78 years old, retired from the directorship and moved to New York City where he formed the Institute for Economic Research. Northwestern continued the sponsorship of the IRLE and the Journal until about 1935.
