Waddill Catchings (September 6, 1879 – December 31, 1967) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who collaborated with his

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

classmate

William Trufant Foster William Trufant Foster (January 18, 1879 – October 8, 1950), was an American educator and economist, whose theories were especially influential in the 1920s. He was the first president of Reed College. Early life and education Foster was born ...

in a series of economics books that were highly influential in the United States in the 1920s. His influential books, written with Foster, were ''Money'' (1923), ''Profits'' (1925), ''Business Without a Buyer'' (1927), ''The Road to Plenty'' (1928), and ''Progress and Plenty'' (1930). The books influenced many policy makers, including

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

and

Marriner Eccles Marriner Stoddard Eccles (September 9, 1890 – December 18, 1977) was an American economist and banker who served as the 7th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1934 to 1948. After his term as chairman, Eccles continued to serve as a member o ...

. Catchings graduated from Harvard.

Life and career

He was a leading banker and financier in the 1910s and 1920s, making (and losing) a fortune of over $250 million. By 1931 he had nearly bankrupted his employer,

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

, through his formation of the Goldman Sachs Trading Company and its floating of the Shenandoah & Blue Ridge investment trusts, controlled by Harrison Williams. Catchings was a director of major corporations in diverse fields, including leather, motion pictures (

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

), radio, television, recorded music (

Muzak Holdings Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934, and has been owned by a division or subsidiary of one or another company ever since. In 1981, Westingh ...

), tin cans, dry goods, rubber, pharmaceuticals, automobiles (

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

), typewriters, breakfast cereals, lumber, mail-order merchandising, music publishing, and electric power.

Influence

A superb phrase maker and popularizer, he had a major impact on

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. For example, Roosevelt's talk of a nation "one-third ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed" used one of Catchings' expressions. With Foster, he was one of the leading pre-

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

economists, in the

underconsumptionist Underconsumption is a theory in economics that recessions and stagnation arise from an inadequate consumer demand, relative to the amount produced. In other words, there is a problem of overproduction and overinvestment during a demand crisis. The ...

tradition, advocating similar issues to Keynes such as the

paradox of thrift The paradox of thrift (or paradox of saving) is a paradox of economics. The paradox states that an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower ''total'' saving ...

and

economic interventionism Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...

. The two are now rarely mentioned in contemporary economics texts, standing as they do in the shadow of Keynes's ''

The General Theory ''The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'' is a book by English economist John Maynard Keynes published in February 1936. It caused a profound shift in economic thought, giving macroeconomics a central place in economic theory and ...

.''

References

Sources

* * * *
Introducing Foster and Catchings
' a
Reviving Growth Keynesianism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catchings, Waddill 1879 births 1967 deaths American lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Goldman Sachs people American bankers People from Franklin County, Tennessee Economists from Tennessee