The Legacy of John Kenneth Galbraith

In his recently released biography, Richard Parker tells the story of John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the world's most famous living economists. Parker captures Galbraith's long career in economics and politics as well as the evolution of his economic thought.

As a Harvard professor for forty years, and an adviser to Democratic presidents and presidential candidates since the 1930s, Galbraith has been a powerful and witty voice for progressive thought. His work focuses on inequality of wealth, income, and power; on excessive consumption and corporate abuse; on environmental damage; on the dangers of rampant military spending and the risks of war; and on the critical importance of public investment and spending given the failure of markets to provide critical needs in the U.S. and globally.

In his biography about Galbraith, Parker offers an analysis through Galbraith's eyes of the economics and politics since the New Deal and explores alternatives available to us today.

Participants

• Richard Parker
  Professor, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and Senior Fellow, Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy


• Henry Aaron
  Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair and Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution


• James Galbraith
  Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin
  Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute


• James Fallows
  National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly


• E.J. Dionne
  Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Columnist Washington Post