This is a class about the modern economic world: a world of change and instability, of bubble and bust, euphoria and depression. It is a world driven by technology on one side and finance on the other -- and increasingly aware of the larger geophysical environment. Economics -- as a broad subject -- has not done a very good job of coping with this world. But some economists and other observers have, and here we focus on the Keynesian, institutionalist and structuralist traditions, mainly in 20th century economics. We will pick a number of major texts, and a few minor ones, read them, and try to relate them to the issues of our time. This class is a seminar. It is not a lecture course. You are expected to read material fully in advance. Come well prepared to discuss it and to answer my questions. Some of the readings are long. Search for the important parts, skim the rest, but don’t forget to slow down and enjoy some of the digressions.
Texts and Works:
Veblen: Theory of Business Enterprise, or possibly Theory of the Leisure Class.
Imperial Germany. Schumpeter: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Keynes: Economic Consequences of the Peace, Essays in Persuasion, General Theory
Ayres: Theory of Economic Progress
Galbraith: The New Industrial State. Galbraith (fils): The Predator State
Grading Policy:
The course will require detailed attention to readings, including notes that I will review on a weekly basis, and two papers, one short and one longer. Grading will be based
25% on notes
25% on class discussion
15% on the short paper
35% on the final paper.
About the Professor:
James K. Galbraith holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and a professorship of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. He holds degrees from Harvard and Yale (Ph.D. in economics, 1981).
He studied as a Marshall Scholar at King's College, Cambridge in 1974-1975, and then served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including executive director of the Joint Economic Committee. He directed the LBJ School's Ph.D. Program in Public Policy from 1995 to 1997. He directs the University of Texas Inequality Project, an informal research group based at the LBJ School.
Galbraith's new book is Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2012). Previous books include The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (Free Press, 2008), Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (Free Press, 1998) and Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future (Basic Books, 1989). Inequality and Industrial Change: A Global View (Cambridge University Press, 2001), is co-edited with Maureen Berner. He has co-authored two textbooks, The Economic Problem with the late Robert L. Heilbroner andMacroeconomics with William Darity, Jr. He is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.
Galbraith is a member of the Lincean Academy, the oldest honorary scientific society in the world. He is a senior scholar of the Levy Economics Institute and chair of the Board of Economists for Peace and Security, a global professional network. He writes frequently for policy magazines and the general press.
