John Kenneth Galbraith
Also known as J. K. Galbraith, Ken Galbraith
Canadian-American economist and diplomat (1908 to 2006); wrote The Affluent Society.
At a glance
Main ideas
Countervailing power, The dependence effect, Private affluence, public poverty …
See all 5Criticism
Milton Friedman
Books to start with
American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power, The Great Crash, 1929, The Affluent Society …
See all 5Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Galbraith was an institutionalist economist who taught at Harvard for half a century and wrote bestsellers from the 1950s to the 2000s.
- In World War II he helped run price controls at the Office of Price Administration.
- He was Kennedy's ambassador to India and an early critic of the Vietnam War.
- His books argued that large corporations hold market power, that demand is manufactured by advertising, and that public needs are starved.
Why it matters
- He made economics readable for the public; he popularised "conventional wisdom", and his case that rich societies neglect public needs is still argued over.
Key facts
- Born
- 15 Oct 1908, Iona Station, Ontario, Canada1
- Died
- 29 Apr 2006, Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 971
- Education
- BSc in agriculture, Ontario Agricultural College (1931); MS and PhD in agricultural economics, UC Berkeley1
- Citizenship
- US citizen from 19371
- War
- Deputy administrator of the Office of Price Administration, forced out in May 19431
- Ambassador
- United States Ambassador to India from 1961 to 19631
- Harvard
- Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, later emeritus1
- Offices
- President of the American Economic Association, 19721
- Honours
- Medal of Freedom (1946); Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000); Officer of the Order of Canada (1997)1
Main ideas
-
Countervailing power1
The US economy is run by big business, big labour and an activist government balancing each other.
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The dependence effect2
Advertising creates the wants that production then satisfies.
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Private affluence, public poverty1
A rich society neglects parks, schools and infrastructure while buying luxuries.
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The revised sequence1
In the corporate core of the economy, large firms shape what consumers want rather than obeying them.
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Financial euphoria1
Speculative bubbles are built into markets, and financial memory is short.
Criticism
-
Milton Friedman1
Called him a 20th-century Tory radical who believes in the superiority of an aristocracy and its paternalistic authority.
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
-
American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power1
How big business, labour and government balance.
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The Great Crash, 19291
The Wall Street crash and the speculative boom before it; never out of print.
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Private wealth, public neglect and manufactured demand.
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The New Industrial State1
Corporate power and the revised sequence.
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A Short History of Financial Euphoria1
Bubbles across the centuries.
Connections
Writes
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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