Bob Reich at coffee rightly thwacked me for not making enough of John Kenneth Galbraith in my Slouching Towards Utopia, forthcoming on September 6 <https://bit.ly/3pP3Krk>. So here’s a gesture in partial atonement: From 2006, in Foreign Affairs...
“Parker has an explanation -- a relatively convincing one -- for the retreat of Galbraith's politics. The story behind it is the Democratic establishment's loss of nerve. Too many party intellectuals and politicians drink cocktails on Martha's Vineyard, in Parker's view, and too few spend time on the shop floor learning what issues are important to those sweeping up or manning an assembly line or tending the convenience-store cash register from midnight to six a.m.”
Nice piece on Galbraith. I'm one of the seventy year old economists who believe his work is important. One of the sad things about right wing economists is that intellectual honesty is not a priority in their work. The JEL review of Chicago school, by a member, included a quote which emphasizes this. Paraphrasing, if data contradicted theory then the data must be wrong. My "Big Book" project involved writing a history of thought treatment of Industrial Organization. Chicago had a major influence on IO, but I've never figured out how to even handedly present it. As an empirical economist, I put my faith in data. As you say, theoretical models address an intuition pump, not the TRUTH.
As a non economist (who’s forgot a lot of what Dr. Bear taught him at UCSD in 1980), I’ll add the following to the reasons for JKG not having dominated policy in the latter half of his life: He was awful on TV. As a youngster I’d watch the “debates” he’d have with those masters of smug, Milton Friedman and Wm.F.Buckley, and watch him get used like a mop. And even though I could recognize that he had the better (and more humane) arguments, I could tell he would be making no headway with the general audience. The ‘70’s and ‘80’s were the TV age and if you couldn’t carry your personality across the airwaves, you made no impression. And I’m guessing that was just as true for the Martha’s Vinyard set. Prof. DeLong’s analysis is certainly more salient, but I don’t think Galbraith’s TV appearances did him or his ideas any favors.
I do good work. Unless I'm being artsy, it's all in the direction of making things easier to see - literally easier to see.
To my knowledge, Apple started "spider script" - fonts whose strokes are so skinny they literally require the eyes to be closer and/or squintier and the brain to stress to read. Good for them.
Not good for the world of readers who want to read at any length.
I love John Kenneth Galbraith. I wish your article was easier to see. I'll most likely struggle through it but maybe not.
This: "And after the war, his work on the Defense Department's "United States Strategic Bombing Survey" made Washington rethink the efficacy of its standard war-fighting policy -- staying high in the sky and dropping lots of explosives on all kinds of people far below -- although perhaps the rethinking did not go far enough."
made me think that is the Russian tactics in Ukraine. And even less effective.
I think most of the objections to Keynes and Galbraith is of the form: 1) Oh! My Glod he has made all my efforts obsolete and 2). They want to take away my economic privileges.
“Parker has an explanation -- a relatively convincing one -- for the retreat of Galbraith's politics. The story behind it is the Democratic establishment's loss of nerve. Too many party intellectuals and politicians drink cocktails on Martha's Vineyard, in Parker's view, and too few spend time on the shop floor learning what issues are important to those sweeping up or manning an assembly line or tending the convenience-store cash register from midnight to six a.m.”
I completely agree with this.
Forgot to add: Thanks for writing instead of a F'King pod cast!!! That said, I do listen to yours.
Nice piece on Galbraith. I'm one of the seventy year old economists who believe his work is important. One of the sad things about right wing economists is that intellectual honesty is not a priority in their work. The JEL review of Chicago school, by a member, included a quote which emphasizes this. Paraphrasing, if data contradicted theory then the data must be wrong. My "Big Book" project involved writing a history of thought treatment of Industrial Organization. Chicago had a major influence on IO, but I've never figured out how to even handedly present it. As an empirical economist, I put my faith in data. As you say, theoretical models address an intuition pump, not the TRUTH.
As a non economist (who’s forgot a lot of what Dr. Bear taught him at UCSD in 1980), I’ll add the following to the reasons for JKG not having dominated policy in the latter half of his life: He was awful on TV. As a youngster I’d watch the “debates” he’d have with those masters of smug, Milton Friedman and Wm.F.Buckley, and watch him get used like a mop. And even though I could recognize that he had the better (and more humane) arguments, I could tell he would be making no headway with the general audience. The ‘70’s and ‘80’s were the TV age and if you couldn’t carry your personality across the airwaves, you made no impression. And I’m guessing that was just as true for the Martha’s Vinyard set. Prof. DeLong’s analysis is certainly more salient, but I don’t think Galbraith’s TV appearances did him or his ideas any favors.
Hi Brad,
I'm a software interface designer.
I do good work. Unless I'm being artsy, it's all in the direction of making things easier to see - literally easier to see.
To my knowledge, Apple started "spider script" - fonts whose strokes are so skinny they literally require the eyes to be closer and/or squintier and the brain to stress to read. Good for them.
Not good for the world of readers who want to read at any length.
I love John Kenneth Galbraith. I wish your article was easier to see. I'll most likely struggle through it but maybe not.
Advice given in the hope it suits you.
Regards.
Question?
Would an efficient economy have more than 2 competitors??? I remember the era when Murika had 4 car companies. GM set prices.
This: "And after the war, his work on the Defense Department's "United States Strategic Bombing Survey" made Washington rethink the efficacy of its standard war-fighting policy -- staying high in the sky and dropping lots of explosives on all kinds of people far below -- although perhaps the rethinking did not go far enough."
made me think that is the Russian tactics in Ukraine. And even less effective.
I think most of the objections to Keynes and Galbraith is of the form: 1) Oh! My Glod he has made all my efforts obsolete and 2). They want to take away my economic privileges.