Almost Everyone's Guide to Economics

by John Kenneth Galbraith, Nicole Salinger

A sparkling, readable introduction to the average citizen, of the otherwise arcane subject of economics, explaining economic theory, institutions, ideas, concepts, applications via monetary policy & other means, much more. Indexed.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Business

192 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 1978

About the author

John Kenneth Galbraith was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and democratic socialism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the 1950s and 1960s. A prolific author, he produced four dozen books & over a 1000 articles on many subjects. Among his most famous works was his economics trilogy: American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958) & The New Industrial State (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years. He was active in politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. He served as US Ambassador to India under John F. Kennedy.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice: one in 1946 from President Truman, and another in 2000 from President Clinton. He was also awarded the Order of Canada in 1997, and in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for strengthening ties between India and the USA.

Reviews

[Matthew Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I do not agree with the late Professor Galbraith's remedies to inflation (i.e. price freezes, etc. - which were proven to be ineffective in New Zealand during the 1980s), overall, this is an astonishing and irreplaceable book. With a good sense of humour (e.g. Nicole Salinger asks Galbraith whom she should believe, and he responds that we should believe him, of course), he deftly clarifies the history of modern economics and how, without a clear understanding of such, we surrender our power to those wealthy individuals who would distort the economy in their favour. He is also intelligent and sufficiently non-subjective enough to find fault in the economic policies of some democrats, and find virtue in the policies of some republicans, e.g. Richard Nixon. Further, he points out the mythologies of modern economic thought, such as the existence of the market (he demonstrates that due to oligopoly, large companies have sufficient capital to control the economy and drive other companies out of business, thereby disproving the myth of the "invisible hand"). An indispensable read.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dialogue piece, with all of the attendant foibles -- sometimes it feels perfectly natural, other times it leans towards the Socratic "whatever you say". As an introductory work, it has several good points; terms are defined, topics come in a sequential order that builds up in conceptual complexity. It glosses a wide range of schools and thinkers for the novice, and while Galbraith expands on his own approach and criticises those of others, he is not dogmatic about it -- readers should make up their own minds, he stresses throughout.

What I most enjoyed about it -- Galbraith's witticisms (I gave it three stars rather than two on the strength of these), and his willingness to concede (indeed, to stress) that economists can't predict things and don't have the answers. The theories are not perfect, and no school of thought explains everything; Galbraith exposed every argument to the reality of the situation. Why do people think this, does it work in practice, what are the outcomes, etc. What I liked least about it -- Galbraith's tendency, which got markedly worse towards the end of the book, to name-drop profligately.

[Malcolm Hebron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always a pleasure to be in the company of Galbraith's wry, senior common room voice. In his witty way he delivers the same observations delivered by others in an angrier, radical tone: the free market is a myth, and economic and political life is controlled by corporations who are powerful enough to control their own prices and costs. Not much distance between this and the manifesto of Occupy. Through the advertising industry, they also to a high degree control the supposedly sovereign consumer. In this book, Galbraith is questioned by Nicole Salinger, whose enquiry, as other reviewers have noted, have a very 70s feel in their insistent focus on inflation. The date of publication makes itself felt, too, in references to the OPEC crisis, the Soviet Union and emerging Incomes and Prices policy. But much of it stilll makes a great handbook on the fundamentals: the central chapters contain crystalline explanations of the classical market, corporate power, monetary and fiscal policy and the history of money. Much of it, such as the comments on the European Union requiring a central government if it is to be effective, are prescient; and there are snappy accounts of the IMF and the workings of the global market. Galbraith also saw the need to take environmental damage into account sooner than many. The book has not aged that much and, in its age, has the bouquet of a vintage wine. A few hours well spent with a humane and amusing master.

[Ondrej Kokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do enjoy older books discussing economic policy as it allows you to see the perspective at the time. And it's especially enlightening if the author is someone like JK Galbraith. Nicole Salinger posed interesting questions and it allowed for a nice foray into various areas of economic theory but mostly economic policy in the midst of the Cold War, beginnings of EC, oil shocks, end of Bretton Woods, ... a truly remarkable time for a policy commentator. Ms Salinger was slightly annoying with always returning to inflation and unemployment, but one would guess that those were simply the topics of the day, the latter still being so today.

Overall a good relaxing read.

[Fcippel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galbraith's heavy focus on inflation makes it clear that this book was written in the late 70's. Nonetheless, this book is important in that it emphasizes the failure of economics to deal with the problem of oligopoly - a problem that plagues even current economic thought.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring for me . Not really a guide to economics. More a description of what was going on at the time of the interview. There was one tidbit I liked. Quote:”Good statesmanship has always required not only the comforting of the afflicted but the afflicting of the comfortable. “

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galbraith is such an entertaining writer that I'll pick up anything by him. This book is a very general, very basic introduction to the dismal science of economics.

[David Alonso vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una muy buena introducción al mundo de la economía a través de preguntas y respuestas que van tocando cada uno de los temas principales.

[Bao Le · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. short references econ book

[Ashish Om Gourav · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 'okayish' read. You can give your time to this book, if you are in a process to understand how the subject of economics has changed over the years. And, this book would be one of the many books you would need to gorge on.

[knoba · Rating 3 out of 5]

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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
1. What Is Economics Anyway?
2. The Economic Systems
3. What Happened To The Market?
4. The Modern Large Corporation
5. Nationalization And Multinationalism
6. What About Money And Monetary Policy?
7. What Is Fiscal Policy?
8. What's To Be Done?
9. The International Scene
10. Growth, Power And Politics Of The Market
Index