Colm, Gerhard, 1897-1968

Gerhard Colm was best known for his work as the Chief Economist of the National Planning Association and serving as a leading economic adviser for both the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Colm was born on June 30, 1897 in Hamburg, Germany to Emil and Olga Strassburger Colm. He received his doctorate in 1921 from the University of Frieburg and did post-graduate work at the University of Munich and the University of Berlin. Colm served as a statistician for the German government, but left government service to enter academia as head of the research division of the Institute of World Economics at the University of Kiel. Colm's active participation in groups agitating against the Freikorps and other pro-Hitler organizations forced him to emigrate in 1933 to the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Colm came to New York as one of the founding members of the University in Exile of the New School for Social Research, to which he was elected Dean of Exiled Scholars in 1938. In 1939 Colm was named by Secretary of Commerce Harry L. Hopkins as Fiscal and Financial expert of the new industrial economics division of that department. In this capacity Colm developed national income estimates for economic planning. One year later Colm became principal fiscal analyst of the Bureau of the Budget and assistant chief of the division, a position he held until 1946. In addition, Colm lectured at George Washington University and served the U.S. government on many special economic missions to foreign countries. From 1946 to 1952 he was economist on the Council of Economic Advisors, Executive Office of the President. In 1952 Colm joined the private sector as Chief Economist for the National Planning Association, remaining in that position until his death.

Gerhard Colm was born in Hanover, Germany on June 30, 1897. From 1921 to 1927 he was an economist at Federal Statistics Bureau, Berlin, Germany. In 1933 he immigrated to United States, and was a professor of Economics at the New School of Social Research, New York City until 1939. From 1939 to 1940 he worked as a fiscal expert at Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. In 1940 Colm became a lecturer at George Washington University. From 1940 to 1946 he was the Principal Fiscal Analyst and Assistant Chief at the Bureau of the Budget in the Fiscal Division. From 1946 to 1952 he worked as an economist for the Council of Economic Advisers. In 1952 he became the Chief Economist at the National Planning Association. In 1953 he was a member of UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) mission to advise on the economic stabilization in Korea. In 1962 he was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee for Appraisal of Chilean Development Program. He died in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on December 25, 1968.

Economist and government official.

Economist. Immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1933; naturalized as a U.S. citizen, 1939.

Biographical Note