Galbraith, John Kenneth (1908–2006)

John Kenneth Galbraith was the most important public economist of the decades after World War II and up until the 1970s. He wrote over forty books, of which a number—perhaps most notably The Affluent Society (1958)—are regarded as being among the most widely read books ever written by modern economists. Galbraith's most famous and accessible works have since become recognized as fostering changes in social values and being important precursors to current social attitudes toward the side effects of economic production and growth, consumerism, the power of corporations, and the influence of advertising. His most important works were characterized by a maverick style, clarity of thought and expression, and the capacity to generate memorable, incisive concepts that formed the basis of his reputation as a ...