David McCord Wright was an American economist and educator at the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

. He was a graduate of 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...

.

Personal

Wright was born in Savannah, Georgia. He married Caroline Noble Jones and had three children: Anna, Antony and Peter.

Teaching

Wright was an economics professor at the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

; he also served as an advisor to the U.S. Federal government. Wright took a professorship at the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

’s Terry College of Business

Terry College of Business

The C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business is the business school at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. The Terry College is the flagship business school in the state of Georgia and one of 16 schools and colleges at the oldest state-chartered public university in the...

 from 1962 until his death in 1968. The Economics Department sponsors the annual David McCord Wright Lecture.

Some of Wright’s students are former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm

Phil Gramm

William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...

, Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

's Budget Director Jim Miller

James C. Miller III

James C. Miller III is a former U.S. government official and economist who served as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission between 1981 and 1985 and as Budget Director for President Ronald Reagan between 1985 and 1988...

 and the former Dallas Federal Reserve chief

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas covers the Eleventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico....

 Bob McTeer

Robert D. McTeer

Robert D. McTeer is an American economist, and has been a fellow at the US National Center for Policy Analysis since January 2007. McTeer is a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and a former chancellor of the Texas A&M University System....

. McTeer recalls his teacher repeating the lesson, “Growth comes through change and causes change.” McTeer’s 2000 Wright Lecture memorialized both Wright’s teachings and life.

Books

Wright published many articles and books during his life. Some of them are The Keynesian System, (ISBN 978-0-313-24090-4), which was part four of The Miller Lectures, The Trouble with Marx in 1967 and Democracy and Progress in 1948. In The Trouble With Marx Wright held that Marx's analysis of capitalism contained at least one truth, the prediction of greater and greater concentration of wealth; in the United States this trend has been slowed by anti-trust activities.