She moved into the peace movement at the start of World War I in 1914, and began collaborating with Jane Addams of Chicago.

Her father was a successful lawyer and one time secretary to United States Senator Charles Sumner.

[3] She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1889 after reading widely in the classics and languages and focusing on economics.

She did graduate work in Paris and published her research as Public Assistance of the Poor in France (1893).

In 1913, she was appointed to serve as Professor of Economics at Wellesley, following the resignation of political economist Katharine Coman, who had founded the Department.

When the United States entered the war, she became a political activist opposing conscription in espionage legislation, and supporting the civil liberties of conscientious objectors.

She cooperated with the newly established League of Nations regarding drug control, aviation, refugees, and disarmament.

[11] John Randall, professor of philosophy at Columbia University, and his wife, Mercedes Randall, one of the leaders of the US section the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, initiated a campaign to nominate Balch for the peace prize.