Philip Green Wright was an American economist who in 1928 first proposed the use of instrumental variables estimation as the earliest known solution to the identification problem in econometrics. In a book review published in 1915 he wrote one of the first explanations of the identification problem. His primary topic of applied research was tariff policy, and he wrote several books on the topic. He also wrote poetry, was a mentor to the poet and author Carl Sandburg, and published some of Sandburg's earliest works. Wright was the father of geneticist Sewall Wright.

Elizur Wright III was an American mathematician and abolitionist. He is sometimes described in the United States as "the father of life insurance", or "the father of insurance regulation", as he campaigned that life insurance companies must keep reserves and provide surrender values. Wright served as an insurance commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.