John Kenneth Galbraith died on April 29, 2006 at the age of 97, having led a life filled with honor and accomplishment. Unfortunately, his ideas are largely ignored by today’s economics profession. His recent death marks an occasion for spotlighting the continuing relevance of those ideas and the ideological narrowness of a profession that makes no space for them. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
A Galbraithian Lens on Globalization
Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006The House Price Bubble: Won’t Get Fooled Again
Saturday, April 8th, 2006One of my all time favorite rock albums is The Who’s “Who’s Next†and one of my favorite tracks on that album is “Won’t Get Fooled Again.†Right now there is much talk of a housing bubble, making for the possibility that a lot of people are getting fooled. (more…)
The Weak Recovery and the Coming Deep Recession
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006To quote Yogi Berra, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.†Many (including myself) expected that the bursting of the stock market and Internet bubbles in 2001 would cause a deep recession owing to large excesses of borrowing and spending by both the household and corporate sectors. Now we know that the recession of 2001 was fairly mild and of short duration, though the economic recovery has also been the weakest since World War II. (more…)
Back to Basics: Progressive Economics for the 21st Century
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006Many Americans have rightly identified China, uncontrolled trade deficits, and Wal-Mart style competition as looming threats to the American economy. However, they remain hard-pressed countering the free market/free trade story of mainstream economists that these are all for America’s long run benefit. (more…)
Keynesianism: what it is and why it still matters
Sunday, September 18th, 2005For the last three decades laissez-faire conservatives have sought to systematically discredit the ideas known as “Keynesianism.†This assault has had deleterious consequences for economic policy and public economic understandings. It is time for Keynesians to fight back. (more…)