Committee for Economic Development Founded as Business-Government Policy Coordination Body

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) is founded in September 1942 as a nonprofit policy organization bringing together corporate executives, economists, and government officials to coordinate economic policy. The organization originates within the Commerce Department under FDR’s Commerce Secretary Jesse Jones, working with Paul G. Hoffman (president of Studebaker Corporation), William Benton (co-founder of Benton & Bowles advertising firm), Marion B. Folsom (treasurer of Eastman Kodak), and Beardsley Ruml (former Macy’s treasurer). Unlike the more conservative National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CED embraces what Fortune describes as “careful Democrats and open-minded Republicans” committed to a mixed economy and Keynesian economics, establishing 3,000 local CED committees during the war and enlisting 60,000 business leaders throughout the country.

The organization’s initial mission focuses on helping the U.S. economy transition from wartime to peacetime production while promoting “free enterprise and full employment, paying particular attention to the needs of small business.” CED’s faith in mixed economics leads its writers to call for a “committee of high officials” to advise the president on investment and employment planning—the inspiration for the Council of Economic Advisers created by the Employment Act of 1946, which for the first time institutionalizes economists as high-level policy advisers. CED is also credited with helping create the Bretton Woods Agreement and the Marshall Plan, demonstrating business community support for international economic coordination. During the Eisenhower administration, CED begins focusing on social issues including slum clearance, urban decay, municipal services, and traffic congestion, while also addressing economic competition with the Soviet Union.

CED represents a critical early model for organized business political influence operating through policy research and government collaboration rather than direct lobbying. The organization demonstrates that corporate political infrastructure existed decades before the 1971 Powell Memo, which falsely claimed business lacked political organization. By establishing systematic coordination between business leaders and government officials, CED creates a template that later organizations like the Business Roundtable (founded 1972) follow—direct CEO involvement in policy formation rather than trade association representation. In January 2015, CED merges with The Conference Board, continuing its role as a business-funded policy organization with trustees drawn mainly from the corporate community, proving the durability of the business-government coordination infrastructure established during World War II.