David Kinley (2 August 1861 – 3 December 1944) was a Scotland-born economist who worked in the United States.

In 1890, he left to do graduate work at Johns Hopkins University, primarily under Richard Ely.

In 1894, he was appointed full professor, head of the department of economics and dean of the college of literature and arts.

As a classical economist, in his presidential address of 1914 before the American Economic Association he expressed his concern that once government involved itself in attempting to control economic activity, the ruling classes would move to other spheres of human endeavor, religion and politics for example.

[1] Following the Panic of 1907, he continued his work for the Comptroller with two monographs prepared at the request of a national monetary commission: "The Independent Treasury of the United States and Its Relation to the Banks of the Country"[2] and "The Use of Credit Instruments in Payments in the United States."