George Goodman
Encyclopedia
George Jerome Waldo Goodman (August 10, 1930 —), is an American
economist
, author
, and broadcast economics
commentator, best known by his pseudonym
Adam Smith (which intentionally evokes the 18th century Scottish economist of the same name
). He also writes fiction under the name "George Goodman."
, Missouri
, the son of Alexander Mark Goodman and Viona Cremer Goodman. He received a scholarship
to Harvard University
, where he also served as the editor of The Harvard Crimson
. Goodman furthered his education by attending Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar studying political economy
.
In 1954 he enlisted in the US Army and served as an Intelligence Officer with the US Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg.
His personal style of presenting economic facts and data has been described as that of "a witty, urbane dinner guest, a droll observer of human affairs," rather than a stodgy economics professor. In fact, Goodman pioneered a style of financial writing
that made the language and concepts of Wall Street
more understandable and accessible to the typical investor
.
Goodman's first non-fiction book, The Money Game (1968), was a number one bestseller
for over a year and changed the style of financial writing from that point forward. Of his many books Supermoney, Paper Money, Powers of Mind, and The Roaring Eighties are among the best known. During a stint in Hollywood
, he wrote screen plays, including that for The Wheeler Dealers
, starring James Garner
and Lee Remick
, adapted from his novel of the same title.
He was a member of the Editorial Board of The New York Times
, an editor of Esquire Magazine
, and was a founding member of New York Magazine
where he nurtured such writers as Tom Wolfe
, Jimmy Breslin
, and Gloria Steinem
.
In 1984, Goodman came to television as the anchor
and editor-in-chief of Adam Smith's Money World. Running on Public Broadcasting
in the U.S., it became the most honored program in its field, winning eight Emmy
nominations and four Emmy Awards, as well as the Overseas Press Club
Award. As Adam Smith, George Goodman also created and anchored a follow-up show, Adam Smith's Money Game that aired in over forty countries and was the first American
business news show broadcast in the Soviet Union
.
, Russia
, the Pacific Rim
, Latin America
, India
, and Israel
. Goodman has also conducted interviews with leaders in both the fields of business and politics — ranging from Warren Buffett
to Mikhail Gorbachev
.
Beginning March 10, 2008, Goodman appeared along with two other personal finance advisers
in the "Dollars and Sense" television advertising campaign
for the Hyundai Motor Company
(the other two were Ray Lucia
and Larry Winget
).
Nonfiction:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and broadcast economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
commentator, best known by his pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Adam Smith (which intentionally evokes the 18th century Scottish economist of the same name
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
). He also writes fiction under the name "George Goodman."
Background, education, and career
Goodman was born in St. LouisSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, the son of Alexander Mark Goodman and Viona Cremer Goodman. He received a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he also served as the editor of The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
. Goodman furthered his education by attending Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar studying political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
.
In 1954 he enlisted in the US Army and served as an Intelligence Officer with the US Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg.
His personal style of presenting economic facts and data has been described as that of "a witty, urbane dinner guest, a droll observer of human affairs," rather than a stodgy economics professor. In fact, Goodman pioneered a style of financial writing
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
that made the language and concepts of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
more understandable and accessible to the typical investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
.
Goodman's first non-fiction book, The Money Game (1968), was a number one bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
for over a year and changed the style of financial writing from that point forward. Of his many books Supermoney, Paper Money, Powers of Mind, and The Roaring Eighties are among the best known. During a stint in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, he wrote screen plays, including that for The Wheeler Dealers
The Wheeler Dealers
The Wheeler Dealers is a 1963 comedy film starring James Garner and Lee Remick and featuring Chill Wills and Jim Backus...
, starring James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and Lee Remick
Lee Remick
Lee Ann Remick was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder , Days of Wine and Roses , and The Omen .-Early life:...
, adapted from his novel of the same title.
He was a member of the Editorial Board of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, an editor of Esquire Magazine
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, and was a founding member of New York Magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
where he nurtured such writers as Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
, Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin is an American journalist and author. He currently writes a column for the New York Daily News' Sunday edition. He has written numerous novels, and columns of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City...
, and Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
.
In 1984, Goodman came to television as the anchor
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
and editor-in-chief of Adam Smith's Money World. Running on Public Broadcasting
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in the U.S., it became the most honored program in its field, winning eight Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations and four Emmy Awards, as well as the Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
Award. As Adam Smith, George Goodman also created and anchored a follow-up show, Adam Smith's Money Game that aired in over forty countries and was the first American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
business news show broadcast in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Recent work
Beginning in 2000 Goodman traveled the globe each year doing specials on countries and regions with fast-growing or emerging economies such as ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Goodman has also conducted interviews with leaders in both the fields of business and politics — ranging from Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
to Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.
Beginning March 10, 2008, Goodman appeared along with two other personal finance advisers
Personal finance
Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...
in the "Dollars and Sense" television advertising campaign
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
for the Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor Company is a Korean multinational automaker based in Seoul, South Korea which, along with Kia, comprises the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the world's fourth largest automaker as of 2009. As of 2011, it is the world's fastest growing automaker for two years running...
(the other two were Ray Lucia
Ray Lucia
Raymond Joseph Lucia, Sr. is an American Certified Financial Planner, Registered Investment Advisor, author, radio personality and television host...
and Larry Winget
Larry Winget
Larry Winget is a professional motivational speaker, bestselling author and television personality. Winget markets himself as "the trademarked 'Pitbull of Personal Development' and 'World's Only Irritational Speaker'".-Early life and family:...
).
Publications
Fiction:- The Bubble Makers (1955)
- A Time for Paris (1957)
- The Wheeler Dealers (1963)
Nonfiction:
- The Money Game (1968)
- Supermoney (1972)
- Powers of Mind (1975)
- Paper Money (1981)
- The Roaring ’80s (1988)
See also
- EconomicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
- Political economyPolitical economyPolitical economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
- Adam SmithAdam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
(the 18th century Scottish economist) - List of economists