John Kenneth Galbraith Books
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, and author known for his influential works on economic thought and public policy. He served as a professor at Harvard University and as U.
Known for: The Affluent Society, The Great Crash 1929, The New Industrial State
Books by John Kenneth Galbraith
The Affluent Society
The Affluent Society, first published in 1958, is a landmark work of economic thought by John Kenneth Galbraith. The book critiques the conventional wisdom of postwar economics, arguing that modern in...
The Great Crash 1929
A classic economic history analyzing the causes and consequences of the 1929 Wall Street crash. Galbraith explores the speculative mania, financial practices, and psychological factors that led to the...
The New Industrial State
In this influential work, economist John Kenneth Galbraith analyzes the structure and power dynamics of modern industrial economies. He argues that large corporations, rather than market forces, domin...
Key Insights from John Kenneth Galbraith
Historical Context: The Economics of Scarcity
To understand how our economic philosophy went astray, one must look to its origins. Classical and neoclassical economics emerged in an era when scarcity governed life. For thinkers like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill, the central economic question was how to allocate limited resour...
From The Affluent Society
The Concept of Affluence
Postwar America represented a turning point in human history. For the first time, a large industrial society no longer struggled primarily with hunger, disease, or shelter. Automobiles, televisions, and refrigerators filled the homes of the average citizen. This was the age of affluence, and with it...
From The Affluent Society
The Economic Background of the 1920s
The decade preceding the crash was a period of giddy optimism. America emerged from World War I not only victorious but flush with burgeoning industrial capacity. The new era of mass production produced cars, radios, refrigerators, and airplanes—all symbols of modernity. Factories thrived, wages ros...
From The Great Crash 1929
The Speculative Boom
By the mid-1920s, speculation had become a pastime as much as a profession. The stock market ceased to be the exclusive domain of financiers and had become the playground of clerks, stenographers, and dentists. Newspapers chronicled daily rises in the Dow Jones as if they were evidence of civilizati...
From The Great Crash 1929
The Decline of the Entrepreneur
In the classical vision of capitalism, the entrepreneur stands as both creator and risk-bearer—a solitary figure who invests, innovates, and competes. He is the embodiment of individual initiative and the driver of progress. But as industrial production grew in scale and complexity, the conditions t...
From The New Industrial State
The Technostructure and Its Goals
At the heart of the new industrial system lies what I call the technostructure—a term meant to capture the collective intelligence within the corporation. It includes not only top executives but also the network of specialists—engineers, scientists, financial planners, accountants, and marketing str...
From The New Industrial State
About John Kenneth Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, and author known for his influential works on economic thought and public policy. He served as a professor at Harvard University and as U.S. Ambassador to India, and wrote extensively on economic power, inequality, and t...
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John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, and author known for his influential works on economic thought and public policy. He served as a professor at Harvard University and as U.S. Ambassador to India, and wrote extensively on economic power, inequality, and t...
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, and author known for his influential works on economic thought and public policy. He served as a professor at Harvard University and as U.S. Ambassador to India, and wrote extensively on economic power, inequality, and the role of government in modern economies.
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John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, and author known for his influential works on economic thought and public policy. He served as a professor at Harvard University and as U.
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