John Kenneth Galbraith, an influential liberal economist, best-selling author and former presidential advisor, died on Saturday. He was 97. . . . Galbraith's best-selling work, 'The Affluent Society,' published in 1958, advocated large government investment in parks, transportation, education and other public amenities to narrow disparities between rich and poor. . . . He was heavily influenced by British economist John Maynard Keynes, who advocated government spending to reduce unemployment. Galbraith, who often described himself as an 'evangelical Keynesian,' supported a much shorter work week, the women's liberation movement and an international council to help the victims of man-made disasters. . . . He taught economics at Princeton University in 1939 and 1940 and in 1941 joined the Office of Price Controls. Later, Galbraith said, his office had started with no price controls and by 1943 almost every price was under control. (Reuters, Sunday)
Unlike his fellow socialist Robert Heilbroner, he never saw that Mises was right.
FEE Timely Classic
Where Are the Omelets? by Lawrence W. Reed