Roger Babson

Roger Ward Babson ( born July 6, 1875 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, † March 5, 1967 in Lake Wales, Florida) was an American statistician, economic and stock market forecaster and author.

Babson gained in the stock market crash of 1929 celebrity when he - just before Black Thursday - on September 5, 1929 predicted the devastating stock market crash in a speech at a Chamber of Commerce. The same day held strong decline in stock prices was attributed to his speech and has since been referred to as " Babson Break ."

In 1904 he founded the Business Statistical Organisation, which dealt with the prediction of stock market and economic trends. He also founded two schools, which particularly focus on economic issues, 1919, the Babson Institute (now Babson College) and 1927 Webber Business College for Women.

In the U.S. presidential election of 1940 he was the candidate of the Prohibition Party, which campaigned for the re-introduction of Prohibition, and received 57.812 votes. He was behind the Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Republican candidate Wendell Willkie and the socialist Norman Thomas fourth of eight candidates.

Babson wrote several books, including Business Barometer (1909 ), Investment Fundamentals ( 1930) and If inflation comes (1937 ). He is also the namesake of the Babson College near Boston.