John Kenneth Galbraith

1. life and career 2. The affluent society 3. Some of Galbraith's Ideas 4. Works and honors
1. life and career
• 1908 -2006 (aged 97) • Canada • faHale Waihona Puke her - a farmer and
• Galbraith states that economic theory is based primarily on societies characterized by poverty and is, therefore, inadequate to addressing the economic condition of the United States in the twentieth century.
John Kenneth Galbraith
--Dora class 3
Brief introduction
• John Kenneth Galbraith was America's most famous economist for good reason. A witty commentator on America's political follies and a versatile author of bestselling books that warn prophetically of the dangers of deregulated markets, corporate greed, and inattention to the costs of our military power
school teacher • Mother- a political
activist • three siblings
graduated in agricultural economics from the Ontario Agricultural College
received an M.Sc and Ph.D in agricultural economics in 1934 from the University of California, Berkeley.
• Keynesians’ belief in aggressive government action to stabilize the economy is based on value judgments and on the beliefs that macroeconomic fluctuations(宏观经济波动) significantly reduce economic wellbeing and the government is knowledgeable and capable enough to improve on the free market.
• the nature of American affluence
• the relationship between production, consumption, and advertising
• the abiding issue of poverty and economic inequality
deputy head of the Office of Price Administration
Galbraith was appointed United States Ambassador to India
he served as president of the American Economic Association
• market power allows corporations to be price makers, rather than price takers
• market power played a major role in inflation
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• Before Keynes it was well known that there was a regular pattern of boom and slump but it was assumed that economies quickly righted themselves without government intervention.
Galbraith taught intermittently at Harvard
he taught at Princeton University
served as an editor of Fortune magazine
he was appointed professor of economics at Harvard.
2. The affluent society
• It contributed to the "war on poverty," being a disastrous government spending policy first brought on by Kennedy and Johnson. This policy not only brought on ruinous levels of debt but split the country in to those who have the jobs and those who do not. "The war on poverty of which so much has been made since then has been able to make excellent careers and many thousands of civil servants of academic people who have been able to do study after study on poverty."
• American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power
• The Great Crash • The Affluent Society • The New Industrial State • Economics and the Public Purpose • A Short History of Financial Euphoria
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4. Works and honors • Presidential Medal of Freedom twice • the Order of Canada • the Padma Vibhushan
works
• The Age of Uncertainty • A Tenured Professor • The Report from Iron Mountain
• changing factors in such economic concerns as employment, inflation, and consumer debt …
3. Some of Galbraith's Ideas
• Focus: the influence of the market power of large corporations
• The main content of the book was not really affluence of society. Rather it was devoted to other themes: It was directed to developing the advantages of extending the power of government. A major theme was the alleged contrast between private affluence and public squalor(肮脏).
became a tutor at Harvard University
became a United States citizen and was no longer a British subject , and took a year-long fellowship at the University of Cambridge
conventional wisdom
• refers to the generally accepted ideas within any given society. Galbraith asserts that conventional wisdom is based primarily on tradition and does not accommodate changes in society and so must be viewed with skepticism.