John Kenneth Galbraith
Personal Information
Description
John Kenneth "Ken" Galbraith, OC was a Canadian and, later, American economist, public official, and diplomat, and a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s, during which time Galbraith fulfilled the role of public intellectual. As an economist, he leaned toward Post-Keynesian economics from an institutional perspective. Galbraith was a long-time Harvard faculty member and stayed with Harvard University for half a century as a professor of economics. He was a prolific author and wrote four dozen books, including several novels, and published more than a thousand articles and essays on various subjects. - Source: Wikipedia
Books
Good Society
In this tightly argued and eloquent book, the preeminent economist John Kenneth Galbraith presents the blueprint for a society that is compassionate to the less fortunate and economically feasible for all. He points the way toward the achievable goals for a "good society": personal liberty, basic well-being, racial and ethnic equality, and the opportunity for a rewarding life. However, this is no utopian approach to the economic challenges facing America; Galbraith recognizes human weakness, differences in ability and motivation, and the formidable obstacles facing those who challenge the status quo. Still, Galbraith's optimism shines through as he explains how we could establish a more humane world by shedding today's conventional wisdom about inflation, the deficit, taxes, and immigration, and by recognizing the immense value of education and environmental responsibility and the political action that the good society demands.
A short history of financial euphoria
How is it that, with all the financial know-how and experience of the wizards on Wall Street and elsewhere, the market still goes boom and bust? How come people are so willing to get caught up in the mania of speculation when history tells us that a collapse is almost sure to follow? In A Short History of Financial Euphoria, renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith reviews, with insight and wit, the common features of the great speculative episodes of the last three centuries - the seventeenth-century craze in Western Europe for investing in an unusual commodity: the tulip; Britain's South Sea Bubble and the eighteenth century's fascination with the joint-stock company, now called the corporation; and, more recently, the discovery of leverage in the form of junk bonds. Along the way, Galbraith explains the newfangled types of debt that different generations have dreamt up, and he entertains with anecdotes about the ingenuity with which some of the more notorious charlatans have convinced people to invest in financial ciphers. Galbraith calls this book "a hymn of caution" for good reason. He warns that the time will come when the public hails yet another financial wizard. In that case, the reader will do well to remember the Galbraithian adage: "Financial genius is before the fall." The appearance of the next John Law, Robert Campeau, or Michael Milken may well be, after all, a harbinger of disaster.
The voice of the poor
Based on a series of lectures given in India in the spring of 1982.Includes index.
A life in our times
Autobiography of economist Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, and the events and famous people of the times.