The Essential Galbraith PDF
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The Essential Galbraith books by john kenneth galbraith [a partial listing] American Capitalism: The Concept ofCountervailing Power The Great Crash,1929 The Affluent Society The Scotch The New Industrial State The Triumph Ambassador’s Journal Economics,Peace and Laughter Economics and the Public Purpose Money: Whence It Came,Where It Went The Age ofUncertainty Annals ofan Abiding Liberal A Life in Our Times The Anatomy ofPower A View from the Stands Economics in Perspective: A Critical History A Tenured Professor The Culture ofContentment A Journey Through Economic Time: A Firsthand View A Short History ofFinancial Euphoria The Good Society: The Humane Agenda Name-Dropping: From F.D.R.On The Essential Galbraith t h e e s s e n t i a l Galbraith k John Kenneth Galbraith selected and edited by Andrea D. Williams A Mariner Original houghton mifflin company boston • new york 2001 Copyright © 2001 by John Kenneth Galbraith Preface copyright © 2001 by John Kenneth Galbraith Introduction copyright © 2001 by Andrea D.Williams allrightsreserved For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,write to Permissions,Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South,New York,New York 10003. Visit our Web site:www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Galbraith,John Kenneth,date. The essential Galbraith / John Kenneth Galbraith. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-618-11963-9 1.Galbraith,John Kenneth,1908– 2.Economics— United States. I.Title. hb119.g33a25 2001 330—dc21 2001024986 Printed in the United States ofAmerica Book design by Robert Overholtzer qum 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 AmericanCapitalism;TheAffluentSociety;TheNewIndustrialState;Eco- nomics,PeaceandLaughter;AnnalsofanAbidingLiberal;TheAgeofUncer- tainty;andTheGreatCrash,1929:Reprintedbypermissionof Houghton MifflinCompany.Allrightsreserved.AShortHistoryofFinancialEuphoria and“TheUnfinishedBusinessoftheCentury”:Reprintedbypermissionof John Kenneth Galbraith.All rights reserved. contents Preface vii Introduction ix Countervailing Power 1 fromAmerican Capitalism The Concept ofthe Conventional Wisdom 18 fromThe Affluent Society The Myth ofConsumer Sovereignty 31 fromThe Affluent Society The Case for Social Balance 40 fromThe Affluent Society The Imperatives ofTechnology 55 fromThe New Industrial State The Technostructure 66 fromThe New Industrial State The General Theory ofMotivation 79 fromThe New Industrial State Economics and the Quality ofLife 90 fromEconomics,Peace and Laughter vi C0ntents The Proper Purpose ofEconomic Development 109 fromEconomics,Peace and Laughter The Valid Image ofthe Modern Economy 118 fromAnnals ofan Abiding Liberal Power and the Useful Economist 134 fromAnnals ofan Abiding Liberal The Founding Faith:Adam Smith’sWealth ofNations 153 fromAnnals ofan Abiding Liberal The Massive Dissent ofKarl Marx 169 fromThe Age ofUncertainty Who Was Thorstein Veblen? 200 fromAnnals ofan Abiding Liberal The Mandarin Revolution 224 fromThe Age ofUncertainty How Keynes Came to America 236 fromEconomics,Peace and Laughter The Speculative Episode 249 fromA Short History ofFinancial Euphoria In Goldman,Sachs We Trust 255 fromThe Great Crash,1929 The Crash 275 fromThe Great Crash,1929 Things Become More Serious 292 fromThe Great Crash,1929 The Unfinished Business ofthe Century 307 Speech given at the London School ofEconomics,1999 Sources 315 preface Isendthisbooktopressandontomyreaderswithoneslightsense ofconcern.ItisthatsomeonewillaskwhodecidedthatthiswasThe EssentialGalbraith.Theauthorwillbeaplausiblesuspect.Infact,it wasassociates,mypublisherandthewiderprofessionalandreading publicwhowereresponsible.Theselectionhereisofwritingthatis thought to have had some durable impact on economic and other scholarly thought or on the world at large. Thus, as later noted, the piece on Countervailing Power, an ex- cerpt from American Capitalism, is still in print after nearly fifty years. The balance of power between buyer and seller therein de- scribed was considered a major modification of the traditional competitive supply-and-demand construct to which all who have studiedeconomicswereexposed.Itisperhapsameasureoftheen- duringnatureoftheterm“theConventionalWisdom,”asdefinedin the second essay, that one rarely gets through a newspaper today without encountering it. Though I try, however unsuccessfully, to conveyanaspectofmodesty,Iamalwayspleasedtohaveaddedthis phrase to the language. The Affluent Society, from which several chapters are here in- cluded,wasthemostwidelypublishedeconomicvolumeofitstime. AfterhisnominationforPresidentin1960,oneofthefirstquestions asked of John F. Kennedy was whether, if elected, he would be guidedbytheideasexpressedbyhisknownsupporterinthatbook. He responded favorably but also with a certain note ofambiguity. Later in this collection come three pieces from The Great Crash, viii Preface 1929, which was published in 1955,just after the twenty-fifth anni- versaryofthatcatastrophicevent.Itwasabestselleratthetime;soit has remained to this day. Even now, as we are launched in a new century,thereisinevitableuneaseaboutthefutureof theeconomy andtherewiththestockmarket,soaknowledgeof whathappened in 1929 is,indeed,still essential. Thereareotheressaysherewhichweresimilarlyselectedandthus selectedthemselves.Thereaderwill,Ithink,havenotroubleaccept- ingtheirrelevanceeithertohistoryortothepresentday,andIhave added some headnotes to suggest my view of their particular sig- nificance then and now. I end with a paper given at the London SchoolofEconomicsin1999ontheunfinishedbusinessofthemil- lennium; this had the largest circulation both here in the United States and around the world ofany lecture I have ever given. John Kenneth Galbraith March 2001 introduction If,asProfessorGalbraithsaysinthepreface,othersareresponsible forthecontentsofthisbook,itisofprimaryinteresttoinquirewhy hehimself eschewsthecredit.Ithasbeenwidelybelievedthatheis not a man for whom modesty is a familiar virtue,so why does he find it necessary now to step back into the shadows? The answer seemstolieinthefactthatwhathasbeenconsideredvanitycould bebetterviewedasadeepsenseofsecurity.Heissecureinhisbasic beliefsandsecurethathisreaders,forwhomhehasthedeepestre- spect,will be able to discern them.He is not given to self-analysis, andso,whileheclearlyunderstandswhatistheEssentialGalbraith, he prefers that others define it. Itshouldfirstbenotedthatinthepagesthatfollow,readerswill findJohnKennethGalbraiththeeconomistandthewriter,withlit- tletraceofthediplomat,thearthistorian,thenovelist,thebookre- viewer,thetheatercriticoreven,exceptinthelastessay,thelecturer. Thisishighlyappropriate,becauseeconomicshas,infact,beenhis chosenfieldandwritinghisobviouslyinnatetalent.Hehasalways believedthateconomicsshouldbestudiednotintheabstractorasa mathematicalconstructbutasitaffectsthelivesofmenandwomen everyday.Heisnotafraidtooverturnoratleastreexaminestrongly heldbeliefsofearliergenerations,realizingthatastechnology,com- munications and business change,so too must the economist’s in- terpretation of them. He has brought to the subject a new way of lookingattheroleofthegreatcorporationsastheyfacedthecoun- tervailing power of trade unions and consumer coalitions. He has
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