Henry Carter Adams (December 31, 1851 – August 11, 1921) was a U.S. economist and Professor of Political Economy and finance at the University of Michigan.

[6] He was superintendent of schools at Nassau, Iowa, from 1874 to 1875, and became fellow of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, from 1876 to 1889.

[3] He went to Andover Theological School in 1878, then studied at Heidelberg, Berlin, and at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques in Paris, from 1878 to 1879.

"For him economics was more than a study of data and statistics; he saw it as the very bone and sinews of our national life...."[10] At Michigan, he also worked with John Dewey.

He was appointed statistician of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 and was in charge of the transportation department in the eleventh U.S. Census, 1890.