Richard Parker's bio of JKG
I'm in awe of this book. It's a formidable accomplishment. I don't know why I haven't been reading reviews of it or hearing them on NPR. Where has Richard Parker been??? He's not an unknown: degree from Oxford, lives in Cambridge, MA. I'll try to find out more about him on www. fsgbooks.com. I'm even ordering the book, and in my old age I've been avoiding buying any more books for a long time.
I've been reading and admiring John Kenneth Galbraith for a very long time. Of course it is a joy to find out more about his life and so on. And I should just say now that one reason I relate so strongly to his economics is the resemblance between him and my late husband. I won't go very far with this comparison because JKG , I think, has sold more books than all other economists combined. Is that possible? Anyhow, a LOT OF BOOKS. Also, he was acquainted with, and often friends with, all the notable economists and politicians, including presidents, of his day (not to mention other notables), until his recent death at age 99. My husband, on the other hand, published almost not at all--his legacy is an oral one, and it is a remarkable one--and he didn't move in such circles or live in Cambridge or New York or Washington, DC. But what is amazing is that he, J. Fagg Foster, Professor of Economics at the University of Denver from 1946 to 1976, and JKG came to the same economic and political philosophy almost independently. They were almost the same age. JKF became acquainted with the works of Thorstein Veblen at Berkeley, Fagg at the Univ. of Texas. Veblen's thinking was the foundation of the economics of both. Both also came to the same interpretation of John Maynard Keynes apparently on their own, which was pretty hard to do; nobody else around them, or anywhere else for that matter, seemed to "be there" until Keynes was explained and more widely understood much later.
I'll never forget when Fagg and I "discovered" JKG, early in the 1950s, sitting at our kitchen table and coming across something he had recently written. We were astonished. Their economics is the same!!
But back to the book. Author Richard Parker tells you all you need to know to understand macroeconomic theory and what various economists thought and wrote about it, along with the related events in the US (mostly). His brief descriptions of the meanings and the theories and their authors is beyond imagination. Include in that what economics is really about. Parker would be the one who could write the book we've all been waiting for since Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes.
I guess I better quit there. I'll be back with more later.
I've been reading and admiring John Kenneth Galbraith for a very long time. Of course it is a joy to find out more about his life and so on. And I should just say now that one reason I relate so strongly to his economics is the resemblance between him and my late husband. I won't go very far with this comparison because JKG , I think, has sold more books than all other economists combined. Is that possible? Anyhow, a LOT OF BOOKS. Also, he was acquainted with, and often friends with, all the notable economists and politicians, including presidents, of his day (not to mention other notables), until his recent death at age 99. My husband, on the other hand, published almost not at all--his legacy is an oral one, and it is a remarkable one--and he didn't move in such circles or live in Cambridge or New York or Washington, DC. But what is amazing is that he, J. Fagg Foster, Professor of Economics at the University of Denver from 1946 to 1976, and JKG came to the same economic and political philosophy almost independently. They were almost the same age. JKF became acquainted with the works of Thorstein Veblen at Berkeley, Fagg at the Univ. of Texas. Veblen's thinking was the foundation of the economics of both. Both also came to the same interpretation of John Maynard Keynes apparently on their own, which was pretty hard to do; nobody else around them, or anywhere else for that matter, seemed to "be there" until Keynes was explained and more widely understood much later.
I'll never forget when Fagg and I "discovered" JKG, early in the 1950s, sitting at our kitchen table and coming across something he had recently written. We were astonished. Their economics is the same!!
But back to the book. Author Richard Parker tells you all you need to know to understand macroeconomic theory and what various economists thought and wrote about it, along with the related events in the US (mostly). His brief descriptions of the meanings and the theories and their authors is beyond imagination. Include in that what economics is really about. Parker would be the one who could write the book we've all been waiting for since Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes.
I guess I better quit there. I'll be back with more later.
posted by Gladys at 3:51 PM
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