Robert R. Nathan (December 25, 1908 – September 4, 2001) was an American economist heavily involved in US industrial mobilization during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a liberal activist, and a pioneer in third-world economic development.

Early life

Nathan grew up in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

and attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, receiving a BA and MA. While in college, Nathan supported himself by factory work and selling silk stockings and telephone memo pads.

Career

In 1933, Nathan joined US Commerce Department. During this time he worked with the influential economist

Simon Kuznets Simon Smith Kuznets ( ; rus, Семён Абра́мович Кузне́ц, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn ɐˈbraməvʲɪtɕ kʊzʲˈnʲets; April 30, 1901 – July 8, 1985) was a Russian-born American economist and statistician who received the 1971 Nobe ...

, who he had also studied under at Wharton, in implementing the first national income measurements which would later serve as the basis for the

GNP The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total amount of factor incomes earned by the residents of a country. It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes received from n ...

. When World War II started, Nathan frequently criticized the lack of industrial readiness should the United States enter the war. In 1942, Nathan was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The designation of ASA Fellow has been a sign ...

. That same year he was appointed chair of the federal

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

's planning committee. A chief insight was to plan for war production based on the U.S. population rather than on the basis of the existing industrial plant. Nathan also made the case to military officials that economic mobilization would not be able to support an invasion of Europe until 1944. Growing increasingly dissatisfied with the internal politics of the War Production Board, and feeling the need to serve his country, he volunteered for the Army in May 1943, though back injuries prevented him from serving in combat. During a long period of hospitalization for those injuries, Nathan wrote a book entitled ''Mobilizing for Abundance'' in which he argued for

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 ...

policies to be extended after the war to preserve peacetime economic stability. After the war. Nathan started the consulting firm Robert R. Nathan Associates (now Nathan Associates, Inc.) which conducted major economic development projects in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. During the 1950s, Nathan served for a period as chair of

Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...

. In this role, he was openly critical of

President Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary ...

's conservative policies.https://web.archive.org/web/20120806021658/https://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2002/02%20February/0202Tribute.pdf Katz, Arnold J. Katz (2002) February A Tribute to Robert Nathan U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis During subsequent decades, Nathan participated in Johnson administration efforts to further development in South Vietnam; supported Hubert Humphrey's presidential candidacy; and consulted in a number of high-profile projects, including the

Curt Flood Curtis Charles Flood Sr. (January 18, 1938 – January 20, 1997) was an American professional baseball center fielder and activist. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Redlegs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washin ...

case.

Death

Nathan died on September 4, 2001, in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

References

External links

* 1908 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American economists Fellows of the American Statistical Association University of Pennsylvania alumni {{US-economist-stub